


I Promise I'll Look After You

by obsessivechild



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Depression, First Relationships, Fluff, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-02 13:43:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 55
Words: 75,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4062133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsessivechild/pseuds/obsessivechild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'm not gay. I'm not gay." <br/>Gerard has been telling himself that he wasn't gay for as long as he can remember. <br/>He doesn't want what the bullies say to be true. <br/>However, when new student, Frank Iero, comes to town, Gerard's world is turned upside down. <br/>Frank promises to look after Gerard but it's a harder job than he had anticipated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Back At School

For the purposes of this story:   
-Set in England because I'm lazy and cba to change everything.   
-Also set in 2014 because whatever.   
-Frank and Gerard are in the same year/are the same age.   
-Frank and Gee are the same heightish although Gee is a little shorter. (This is before he has a growth spurt)  
*This story will most likely contain triggers. Sorry in advance*

 

{Gerard's POV}

 

I looked in the mirror. 

I looked like shit.

That's how I usually looked in the morning though. 

Transformation time.

I should really do before and after pictures some time. 

I turned the shower on and hopped in. 

Taking a deep breath, I just let the water wash over my face. 

It was the same routine every day. 

Sometimes it felt like my life had no meaning. 

Okay, I know I was only fifteen but whatever. 

After I had washed my body and hair, I grabbed a towel and wandered into my room. 

My brother and mum were still in bed. 

I usually woke up early. 

I never intended to. It just happened. 

Every day around quarter to seven. 

Always the same time. 

It was like I had an alarm clock in my head. 

Not sure why it was always that time. 

Also, surely I would be trying to get as much sleep as I could since I usually didn't fall asleep until about one in the morning. 

Apparently not. 

I sat on my bed and sighed. 

I sighed a lot. 

Not sure why and I guess I didn't need a reason to anymore. 

I just did. 

I checked the time on my phone. 

It was nearly seven. 

I guess one of the advantages of getting up early is long showers. 

I did like my long showers. 

When my phone buzzed, it made me jump. 

I was just drifting off with my head against the wall by my bed. 

I blinked and rubbed my eyes. 

"Heyyy honey! You up yet? Xxx" 

Text from Taylor as per usual. 

She always messaged me in the morning. 

I sent a quick text back and then got up.

"Of course I am. I always am xxx" 

I was getting cold with just a towel wrapped around my waist. 

My hair was still dripping wet too. 

I grabbed my school trousers and underwear. 

Shoving them on, I heard my phone go off again.

I looked at it before putting on my shirt. 

"Fair enough. Are you coming to school today?? Xxx" 

I typed out, 

"Yeah xxx" 

I was always a bit blunt when I text people. 

I didn't really want to go to school but at least it wasn't Monday. 

When I had my shirt and tie on, I went back into the bathroom. 

I had towel dried my hair a bit but I couldn't do anything else until my mum was up. 

The hairdryer was in her room. 

It was now ten past seven. 

I could hear my mum moving around in her room. 

Finally, she was awake. 

My hair desperately needed sorting out. 

Just as I was coming out of the bathroom, I bumped into her. 

"Oh! Good morning, Honey," She smiled. 

"Hi, mum," I half smiled back. 

"I'm guessing you want to use my hairdryer," She chuckled. 

I smiled sheepishly and nodded. 

"Go ahead," She went into the bathroom. 

I shuffled into her bedroom. 

She had already plugged her hairdryer in for me. 

I loved my mum. 

When my hair was as dry as I wanted it, I quickly plugged in and waited for my mum's straighteners to warm up. 

She didn't know I used them and she would probably think me weird if she found out. 

While I waited for them, I went back into my bedroom. 

As I had suspected, I had received another text from Taylor: 

"Yayy!! I missed you yesterday! Xxx" 

"Missed you too xxx" I sent back. 

My mum was doing stuff downstairs so I sneaked out of my bedroom. 

I was about to cross into my mum's room again when I heard, "What are you doing?" 

I froze and looked up. 

Mikey had just walked out of his room in time to see me. 

"Uh nothing," I muttered. 

He frowned but let it go and went into the bathroom. 

I sighed in relief. 

Why was it so important to me that no one knew I straightened my hair? 

I knew why. 

"Only gayboys straighten their hair!" 

That's what Lewis had told me. 

And that's what I believed. 

I wasn't gay. 

And I didn't want people thinking that I was. 

Twenty minutes later, I was downstairs, eating cereal and watching This Morning. 

That show was crap but my mum always put it on so I had no choice. 

Mikey sauntered into the kitchen and sat down next to me. 

"Can I have the milk, mum?" He asked. 

My mother passed him the milk and then carried on eating her piece of toast. 

I checked the time on the TV. 

Ten to eight. 

That was my cue to leave. 

I kissed my mum goodbye and said bye to Mikey. 

I walked out of the front door with my Asking Alexandria bag on, wearing my ugly ass school blazer and my black pumps. 

I liked my walks to school because I could listen to music. 

I had a pretty good music taste, if I said so myself. 

I got to school at quarter past as usual and walked over to the corner where my friends hung out. 

I had been ill the day before so as a result, had Monday off. 

I hadn't really been ill. 

I just needed the day off. 

Mentally, I just couldn't take yesterday. 

I had had a breakdown on Sunday evening and that meant that I was really drained yesterday. 

"There you are!" Taylor ran towards me and practically attacked me with a hug. 

"Where were you yesterday?" She demanded. 

"I was ill," I mumbled. 

She pulled away and frowned at me, "Yeah, you said." 

I bit my lip, hoping there would be no further questioning. 

"Anyway," She shook off the worry and turned back into her bubbly self, "I have someone for you to meet!" 

She seemed very excited. 

"Who is it?" I asked, cautiously. 

"Well-" She began but was cut off by Maisie, "Gee!" 

I looked behind Taylor to see my best friend ever. 

Maisie ran over and pulled me into a hug, "You bastard!" She laughed, "Where were you?" 

"I was ill," I muttered again. 

She pulled away and frowned at me. 

Maisie knew me better than anyone else and so knew when something was wrong. 

"Anyway!" Taylor cut back in, "We have someone new in our year!" 

I looked over at Maisie.

She had gone quiet and was looking at her feet. 

"Frank!" Taylor turned around and yelled to the little circle of people that contained our friends. 

A guy with black hair came over and grinned at Taylor. 

"Hey, Tay," He greeted. 

Taylor smiled back before turning to me and saying, "Gerard, this is Frank. He went to the school I went to before I came here. Frank, this is Gerard. He's one of the nicest people   
at this school and one of my best friends! Frank, meet Gerard. Gerard, meet Frank." 

I glanced over to the guy named Frank. 

He was looking at me, a big smile spread across his lips. 

"Hey," He held out his hand. 

Did he want me to shake it? 

"Um hi," I hesitantly took his hand and shook it. 

He seemed happy that I had and said, "Taylor's told me a lot about you."   
"Oh well, she hasn't mentioned you," I murmured. 

His smile didn't waver. 

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Taylor grinning away and Maisie was still looking down awkwardly. 

What was going on? 

It turned out I should have gone to school on Monday. 

I had missed a lot. 

* 

Monday at break:

"So what do you think of Frank?" Taylor asked Maisie. 

"He's nice," Maisie shrugged. 

They went back to silence until Taylor asked, "Do you think Gerard'll like him?" 

Maisie turned to Taylor and said, "I guess... Why?" 

"No reason," Taylor replied. 

Maisie thought for a second and then said, "There is a reason. There's always a reason. What's going on?" 

Taylor sighed, she knew she was had, "Well... Frank's bi, openly bi, I might add. And I thought... He would be perfect for Gee." 

Maisie was confused, "What? But Gee's not gay. He's straight." 

Taylor gasped, "Oh, Honey! Have you not realised? It's getting kind of obvious." 

"No it isn't! What are you talking about?" 

Taylor knew that she had to take this matter delicately, "Let me tell you the signs: he has styled and dyed hair, paints his nails black all the time and I'm pretty sure I saw him   
wearing guyliner once." 

"You're just stereotyping it all! Straight guys look like that too! That doesn't make him gay!" 

"True, true. But do they get shy around good looking guys? Do they have no interest in girls at all? Do they have basically no guy friends? Do they avoid the subject when   
homophobia or the concept of gay people come up? He doesn't know it yet, but I'm pretty sure Gee's gay. Just watch him when he meets Frank tomorrow. I'm sure they'll hit it off." 

Maisie shook her head, "He's not gay..." She whispered but she was now unsure. 

"Oh my God!" Taylor suddenly burst, making Maisie jump, "You like Gerard don't you?!" 

"Shhh!" Maisie bit her lip, "No! Of course not!" 

"Oh, Honey, you do. You like him a lot." 

Maisie gave up and sighed, "A lot is an understatement. I wish I didn't though. He's my best friend. Things would be awkward between us if he found out."

"You need to tell him." 

"No way! You've just given me another reason not to. Since apparently... He's gay," Maisie sighed. 

"Don't tell him or ask him if he is. He needs to find out on his own and hopefully Frank'll help with that," Taylor grinned. 

"How?" Maisie frowned. 

"Frank! Come over here!" Taylor called to him. 

Frank, who had been talking to Michelle and Dan, walked over to where the girls were standing. 

"What's up?" He asked. 

"Well," Taylor started, "You know that guy I told you about? Gerard?" 

"Yeah. Where is he anyway? I was looking forward to meeting him." 

"He's ill today. Which is just typical," Taylor moaned. 

Frank nodded and waited. 

"So um..." Taylor wasn't sure how to go about this, "You know I told you he was gay...?" 

Frank smiled and nodded again. 

"Well... He doesn't exactly know that he is." 

"What?" Frank questioned. 

"He hasn't come out yet." 

"But you told me he had!" 

"I didn't tell you... I implied it." 

Frank rolled his eyes. 

"Look, we want him to realise that he is." 

"Well he might not actually be gay. Just because you think he is, doesn't mean that he is," Frank retaliated. 

"Exactly!" Maisie suddenly said before going quiet again. 

"Could you tell he is? By meeting him?" Taylor asked Frank. 

Frank thought for a second before answering, "I guess... Maybe." 

"Good! Maybe you could flirt with him a bit too." 

"What makes you think that I'll like him?" 

Taylor looked Frank in the eye and said, "Oh, you'll like him. He's the best guy I know. I guarantee that you'll fall for him in less than a month." 

"We'll see..." Frank muttered. 

"He's really cute too," Maisie added. 

"Yeah, he's adorable!" Taylor agreed. 

"Well okay," Frank said, "We'll see how it goes." 

"Thanks Frank!" Taylor hugged him. 

"It's fine. It would be nice to be with someone again. I always did prefer guys to girls..." He winked before walking off. 

* 

But of course, I didn't know about that conversation.


	2. Something In Common

{Frank's POV}

 

I'm glad I moved schools.

My last one was pretty shit.

Not sure if this one's any better though.

We'll just have to wait and see.

I suppose that it's okay so far.

Taylor goes here so that's cool.

I didn't really know her that well but sometimes we'd skive PE or something together and have a chat.

She was actually the first person I told I was bisexual.

I don't know why I told her. I mean, I didn't know her very well.

I just did.

I guess I wanted to see what people's reactions would be like and it just came out.

Sure, she could be a handful sometimes but she was a friend and she was the only person I knew at this school so I stuck by her during my first week.

Taylor's friends were alright.

She had quite a few but only two were her close friends.

One was Maisie.

Maisie was sweet and cute.

Not my type but really kind and obviously cared a lot about her friends.

Especially Gerard.

Now, Gerard.

He was certainly something else.

Maisie was right, he was cute.

Very cute actually.

And definitely adorable.

He was pretty shy though.

Maybe it was just because I was new and we didn't know each other.

He was fine with everyone else.

Yeah, it was just because I was new.

I didn't take it too personally.

He was pretty quiet when I first met him.

It was actually a bit awkward because I could tell that Taylor wanted us to get talking by ourselves but I didn't know what to say.

He didn't either from what I could tell.

Although, we were saved by Maisie.

"So..." Taylor grinned after I had shaken Gerard's hand, "We'll leave you guys alone..."

I glanced at Gerard.

He was frowning.

No doubt he was confused.

I would be too if I was in his shoes.

Poor guy.

"Um no," Maisie's sudden words surprised me, "I'm fine here. I haven't seen Gee for three days. I'm going to talk to him."

Wow.

The small girl had more to her than I had first thought.

Gerard looked down, half smiling.

I could tell the attention made him a little uncomfortable but he didn't mind.

Out if the corner of my eye I could tell that Taylor was making air signs to Maisie but Maisie was having none of it.

I didn't pay attention to them though.

I was still gawking at Gerard.

His raven black hair was styled so it almost covered his right eye.

I assumed he used it to hide behind when he was uncomfortable like he was now.

I knew I should've stopped staring at him.

I probably looked a bit weird.

But I just couldn't.

Of course he eventually looked up and the first thing he saw was me ogling at him.

He blushed a deep crimson before looking down again.

Aw bless him.

That was adorable.

I didn't know I had the power to make guys blush.

I smiled to myself.

Nice to know I had that kind of power.

Gerard glanced back up under his lashes but immediately dropped his eyes when he saw I was still looking at him.

While this was happening, Taylor had taken Maisie off to the side and it looked like they were having quite a heated debate.

Jeez.

After frowning at them for a second or two, I looked back at Gerard.

I was surprised to find that he was actually looking at me.

And as soon as I returned his look, he didn't look down or dart his eyes.

Instead, his lips turned up at the corners and he smiled a small smile.

I couldn't believe it.

From what I had worked out about him so far, I thought it would be a while before he returned eye contact let alone smiled at me.

I grinned back and said, "Girls, huh?"

Just to break the mood.

I wasn't sexist or shit like that.

He continued to smile and nodded.

It looked like that would be the only answer I was getting out of him.

I glanced back at Taylor and Maisie.

They were still talking.

What the hell were they doing?

"I like your bag..." I heard behind me.

My eyes widened.

I turned back to Gerard.

His smile was now smaller and unsure but still there.

I had to look at my bag to remember what it was.

Slipknot shoulder bag.

"Thanks. You like Slipknot?" I was getting excited now.

I had never met anyone who had the same music taste as me.

My old school was just a little too chavvy for my taste.

"Yeah, I listen to them occasionally," He replied, his voice a little more confident than last time.

"Awesome!" I was definitely excited now.

"I actually have a Slipknot badge," He carried on.

"Can I see?" I asked.

He nodded before pulling his backpack off and showing me.

Oh.

My.

Fuck.

He had a fucking Asking Alexandria bag!

I liked this guy a lot already.

"Your bag's epic!" I grinned, "I love Asking!"

"Me too," A big smile was now spreading across his face.

He seemed to be getting as excited as me.

"What's your favourite song?" I asked.

"The first one I ever heard, The Final Episode. I like A Lesson Never Learned too."

"Same! Those ones are the best! I always have to sing along to Killing You as well," I chuckled.

He was now completely out of his shell.

"Favourite member?" He asked.

"That has to be Ben," I laughed, "He's an amazing guitarist and not to mention hilarious!"

"What about Cameron?"

"Sure he can play, but he's no Ben Bruce that's for sure."

He laughed a little before saying, "I like Danny."

"I love Danny. He's completely mental!"

"I know!" Gerard giggled.

We talked a bit more about Danny and his shenanigans and by the time Taylor and Maisie wandered back over, we were both doing impressions of Danny and laughing our asses off.

"I see you guys are getting on well," Taylor smiled.

"What are you doing?" Maisie frowned.

Gerard just shook his head, still laughing.

Taylor was grinning widely.

Obviously thinking her matchmaking skills were flawless.

But the one thing she had forgotten was the fact that Gerard wasn't gay.

At least, I wasn't sure if he was and I was pretty sure he didn't know either.

We would just have to wait and see.

There was definitely a possibility he could be.

But then again that might just be me hoping there could be one.

I was beginning to really like this guy.


	3. A Secret

{Gerard's POV}

 

I managed to forget about my breakdown on Sunday by about break time.

I was still feeling a bit down of course but at least I got to laugh a little and forget about it.

Maisie was still a little pissed by something.

She wouldn't tell me what it was though.

And Taylor was practically bouncing off the ceiling.

I had never seen her in such a good mood before.

Of course she didn't tell me what had brought it on.

No one was telling me anything.

I knew something was going on; it was getting obvious.

I had an idea.

Since Taylor and Maisie were giving me nothing, I decided to question Frank.

Seen as I hardly knew him and it was his second day though, I wasn't sure how to approach him.

I hoped he would come over to me.

But then again, I didn't want Taylor or Maisie to overhear.

When I saw Frank walk over, I knew this was my chance.

Although, I was a bit skeptical. 

Would he even know?

"Hey," He grinned as I greeted him before he reached the others.

I stopped walking which meant he did too.

We were a little way off from the small group of my friends.

This meant we could speak without being overheard.

"Um hi, Frank," I sounded like a douche.

He continued to smile, waiting.

"Could I ask you something?" I bit my lip.

"Sure."

How was I going to say this?

"Do you know what's going on? Taylor and Maisie are acting really weirdly."

His smile wavered a little but didn't disappear.

"Yeah, I know what's going on."

He didn't say anything else. 

"Well... Could you tell me?" I felt really awkward.

"Sorry, Gerard," His smile finally disappeared, "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" I frowned.

Why were they keeping a secret from me?

"I just can't," His eyes dropped to the floor.

"Fine," I said in a harsher tone than I had planned.

He looked up and opened his mouth but I didn't stick around to see what he had to say.

I turned and started walking back over to my friends.

I could hear his footsteps behind me but I ignored them.

"Gerard..."

I slowed down but didn't stop.

His footsteps sped up and he was suddenly in front of me, forcing me to stop.

I looked down and waited to see what he had to say.

"I want to tell you but I can't. I will though, one day."

I just shrugged in response.

"Gerard."

I felt his hands on my arms.

Was he... Touching me?

I had to look up then.

A tingle went down my spine when I saw his fingers were wrapped around my upper arms.

He was looking right into my eyes.

I couldn't avoid the awkward eye contact.

"I know you hardly know me but can you trust me?"

Trust?

He was asking for me to trust him?

I could hardly trust Taylor at times.

It took me ages to trust even Maisie.

He wasn't letting me go though and his eyes were boring into mine.

I just nodded to avoid conflict.

His face eased up and he slowly dropped his hands.

"Thanks," He smiled.

I just shrugged again and turned back to the others.

I was aware that I was blushing.

Why was I blushing?

Was I embarrassed?

But why?

Of course Taylor noticed, even with my head down.

"Hey Gee..." I looked up to see her smiling like a Cheshire cat.

It was really creepy when she did that.

I raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue.

She just continued to grin at me and nodded towards Frank.

Frank was talking to a couple of guys from my year who had wandered over to see who he was.

Nosey sods.

"What?" I turned back to Taylor and Maisie.

She was still smiling wide and winked at me.

What the fuck?

All I could do was frown.

"Um... Okay then..." I mumbled.

Jeez... What was that about?

"Ow!"

My head shot up to see Taylor rubbing her arm.

I assumed that Maisie had hit her for some reason.

But why?

What was going on?

Why wasn't I being told anything?

I finally decided to ignore it all.

I would end up getting really pissed if I kept fixating on it.

And Taylor was beginning to piss me off already.

I just shrugged it off and tried to catch up with the various chatter around me.


	4. Run

{Gerard's POV}

 

The bell rang.

"Come on, Gee!" Taylor grinned, "It's time for music!"

I had missed music yesterday so I was glad I had it again today.

It was one of the only lessons I enjoyed.

Taylor linked arms with me and started dragging me off in the direction of the Performing Arts building.

Maisie soon caught up with us and was walking alongside me.

Taylor surprised me though by stopping in her tracks.

"Hurry up, Frank!" She called in his direction.

Wait, Frank took music too?

Taylor waited for Frank to catch up and then linked arms with him too so we were on either side of her.

The walk to the building was silent, apart from the odd comment from Taylor.

Maisie ignored everything Taylor had to say.

Something really was bothering her and I was itching to ask her about it.

But not until it was just the two of us.

"See ya, hun!" Taylor blew a kiss to us each before skipping off to her BTEC class.

She left us stranded in the corridor.

"Oh yeah, Gee. Frank takes GCSE too," Maisie finally spoke up.

"Yeah," Frank smiled.

I nodded before Maisie lead us to our class.

"Good to see you're back, Gerard," Mrs Wells, my music teacher, smiled as I walked through the door.

I returned her smile before following Maisie to our usual seats.

We didn't have a very big class.

In fact, the class almost had to be cancelled because there wasn't enough students interested.

Luckily it didn't though.

I loved music.

Maisie and I usually sat on a table by ourselves so it was weird when Frank slid into the seat across from me.

He sent me a sheepish smile that I returned.

"Okay!" Mrs Wells signalled, "Since we did some work on composition yesterday, you have the whole hour today to work on performing."

Maisie turned to me, "See what you missed, you lucky duck!"

I half smiled.

Neither of us enjoyed composition at the moment.

I loved writing my own music. I just didn't like the projects our teacher set us.

Everyone got up and grabbed their various instruments or song lyrics.

Frank was up in a flash.

I found myself wondering what instrument he played.

I watched him curiously as he crossed the floor to the guitars.

I should have known.

He had a guitarist feel about him.

If that was a thing.

Maisie was back down next to me now, the usual acoustic in her arms.

"Where's Frank?" She didn't seem to want to know the answer.

Did she not like Frank or something?

I thought he was pretty cool.

I pointed over to him.

He was on his way back carrying a black electric and a small amp.

When he was back at our table, he sat back down and started plugging it in.

"I prefer my own," He was saying, "I might bring it in next lesson."

When the amp was on and the guitar was plugged in, he pulled out a pick out of nowhere.

I frowned.

He noticed and grinned.

"I always carry one around," He explained, "You know, just in case."

I nodded.

Maisie was watching us both; Frank strumming slowly, watching me and in return, me watching Frank.

I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

He was definitely a sight to behold.

This incredibly attractive guy with an electric in his arms.

Okay, maybe not "incredibly attractive".

How would I know what attractive meant when it came to a guy?

I wasn't gay.

Never have been and never will be. 

Anyway... Denial aside...

"Do you play anything, Gerard?" Frank brought me back to Earth.

"Um no," I didn't really want to say about the singing because I knew I wasn't very good.

Frank was about to say something but Maisie suddenly said, "Gee sings."

Frank looked at her and then back at me.

"Do you?" He asked.

"Not very well," I admitted.

Maisie made me jump by laughing.

"What?" I questioned.

"You, that's all."

"What did I do?"

"Just what you said. Gee, you're an amazing singer," She looked me in the eyes to show she was serious.

I just shook my head.

I didn't believe her.

"Can I hear you?" Frank asked.

I looked at him.

He looked like he honestly wanted to hear me sing.

"You don't want to hear me."

"Sure I do. I asked didn't I?"

He had me there.

I didn't want to start an argument so I just said, "Maybe some other time."

Maisie pricked up her ears and said, "So does that mean I'm practising by myself again this week?"

I nodded slowly.

"Great," She sighed.

Frank raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

~

The rest of music passed by uneventful to say the least.

I never did get to speak to Mai.

She was really grouchy the rest of the day so I didn't really speak to her.

I had never seen her like that before.

It was really weird.

I decided not to ask because it might put her in an even worse mood.

The day ended as it usually did; I said goodbye to my friends who were in my last lesson and I started walking home.

I didn't get very far though.

I never did.

I left the school through the gate I had entered in just hours before.

I put my headphones in and turned up Asking Alexandria loud.

I kept my head down and my hands in my pockets.

After all, I didn't want to make any eye contact with anyone.

When I had crossed the road and was about to pass the alley, they appeared.

I still have no idea how they did it. 

Every day, at the same time, they were waiting for me.

"Heeeeeey!" Lewis greeted me.

I stopped in my tracks and watched as four of them came and stood in front of me.

"We missed you yesterday," He grinned, "Where were you?"

"I-I was ill..." I mumbled.

They started laughing and I could feel myself shrinking in my skin.

"Ill my ass," Lewis spat.

I contemplated making a run for it but I knew it was a risky choice.

I was a pretty fast runner though...

But then again, they were blocking the path.

I looked up and down the road.

There were no cars.

If I was going to make a run, I had to go now.

"So," Lewis started but I didn't stay around to hear.

I legged it across the road and continued to run down the road, not stopping to look back.

When I had turned the corner, I dared myself a look behind.

I didn't see any of them.

I stopped to catch my breath.

I fucking hated this.

Why did it have to be me?

I sighed before I started walking again.

The rest of the walk home was slow and seemed to drag on.

I started tearing up at one point too and that meant I didn't stop.

So when I got in; I ran straight up to my room, threw my bag on the floor and curled up on my bed.

I was so sick of crying.

I had done so much of it lately.

"Gerard?" I heard through my door.

I wiped my eyes.

"Yeah?" My voice cracked.

"Um... Are you okay?"

I bit my lip, "Yeah... I'm fine."

"Well... If you're sure. Did you want to play a video game or something?"

I rubbed my eyes a bit more before opening my door to see Mikey standing there awkwardly.

"Sure," I tried to smile.

He returned it and we went downstairs.


	5. The Second Floor

{Gerard's POV}

 

I had quite a few lessons with Frank.

We had science, maths, music and history together.

I liked the fact he was in so many of my lessons.

I liked talking to him.

Although, he hadn't taken art like me.

He had taken graphics or something.

Music was my favourite lesson with him.

Just because it was so laid back and we could joke around.

I loved to hear him play the electric.

It was beautiful. 

After that first week, he had started bringing in his own guitar.

It was amazing; all glossy and sleek.

I wished I could play something as perfect as that but I thought it would be best to just stick with singing for now.

I had tried playing and singing at the same time before but I wasn't very good so gave up.

I didn't really mind though.

I couldn't imagine myself writing and performing music.

I was better at lyrics.

In fact, I had a notebook Maisie had given me for my birthday the year before that I used to write down ideas for lyrics.

I never showed anyone my ideas.

I was worried they weren't very good.

So I hid them away.

I carried my lyrics book with me at all times but no one had ever looked through it.

I don't think anyone even knew I had it.

Not even Maisie.

I knew that I should have told Maisie everything since, well, she was my best friend.

But there were a lot of things I kept from her and everyone else.

I didn't want people talking about me or thinking there was something wrong with me.

I usually wrote down a lyric idea as soon as it came into my head.

So that's what I was doing a week later in a music lesson.

Maisie had gone to find an acoustic and Frank was late or ill or something.

I was sitting at our table and was just looking out of the window.

Our classroom was on the second floor of the Performing Arts block.

I was wondering what would happen if I just decided to jump out of that window right then and there.

I would probably break my foot or something.

It wasn't far enough to die.

Too bad.

That's what gave me an idea for a lyric.

I was working on a song, a proper song.

Not just random lyrics.

I was actually developing a proper song which I had never done before.

I was looking for inspiration from anything.

I went over the line in my head and made sure it fit the melody.

It didn't at first so I changed it until it did.

I then pulled out my notebook and scribbled down the line.

That was when Frank flopped down in the seat across from me.

I almost jumped.

"Hey," He grinned, "What you doing?"

"Just... Writing."

"Writing what?" He took off his bag and chucked it under the table.

I decided to be honest and said, "Lyrics."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You write songs?"

"Well, just lyrics. I'm not very good at instruments."

"Can I read what you have so far?" He asked.

No one had ever read any of my work before.

I have to say, I was a little skeptical at first but decided to give in because why not?

I handed him my notebook and watched him as he read the page I had been writing on.

"...Remember when you broke your foot from jumping out the second floor," He read.

I bit my lip.

"I hope this isn't from past experience," He looked up and grinned.

I laughed and replied, "No, it isn't. I just had a thought that's all."

"A pretty damn good thought," He said admiringly, "Is this all you have so far?"

"Yeah, it's not much. Only the first verse and the chorus."

"I like it," He handed me back my book.

"Really?" My eyes lit up.

"Of course! You better tell me when you've finished it so I can read it and see how awesome it is. Although, it already is," He winked.

I felt myself blush.

Why was I blushing?

"Thanks..." I smiled at the table.

"No problem. Do you have a melody yet?"

"Uh yeah... A little," I admitted.

"Can you sing it for me?" He asked.

I still hadn't sang in front of Frank yet.

I still felt a little embarrassed.

He had mentioned a couple of times since that first music lesson we had together that he wanted to hear me sing.

It didn't help that Maisie kept praising my singing.

She was the only person who had heard me sing properly.

I usually kept my voice hidden from most people.

"Um... I'm not sure..."

"Oh please?" He pleaded.

I looked around the classroom.

"If I do... We'll have to go into a rehearsal room."

"You really don't like people hearing you sing do you?"

"I don't mind. It's just that... I'm not very good."

He shook his head and said, "I'll believe that when I see it. Well, hear it."

I smiled a little and watched Frank stand up and say, "Come on then. I want to hear this amazing song."

I hesitantly stood up and followed him to a room.

Before I went in, Maisie caught my eye.

She was back at the table now with a confused expression on her face.

I held up a finger and mouthed, "One minute."

I didn't want to ditch her all lesson.

I went into the room and shut the door behind me.

Frank was leaning against a table that had a keyboard on it.

"Proceeded," He gestured for me to begin.

I coughed a little, nervous.

I was a little scared.

"Is it okay that I um... Close my eyes?" I asked.

"Sure," He smiled, "Or if you like, I could turn away."

I shook my head, "That's okay."

He nodded and waited.

I took a deep breath before starting.

I was a little quiet at first but I knew he could hear me.

"...Well, if you wanted honesty that's all you had to say, I never want to let you down or have you go, it's better off this way, for all the dirty looks, the photographs your boyfriend took, remember when you broke your foot from jumping out the second floor,"

I stopped then and said, with my eyes still closed, "The chorus goes like this."

He didn't say anything so I continued, "I'm not okay, I'm not okay, I'm not okay, you wear me out."

I took another deep breath before opening my eyes.

Frank was still leaning against the table but he had his eyes closed too.

He opened them and said, "Just... Fucking wow."

I smiled a small smile and waited to see what else he would say.

"I mean... Fucking hell, Gerard. I really, really like it. I love the melody. I could actually just imagine the guitar tab."

"Really?" My eyes widened.

I had never thought of actually turning this into a proper song.

"Yeah. That's what I do. I listen and interpret. I'm excited about this! I'm getting started on this straight away! Write more lyrics!" He strode across the room and opened the door

Before he left, he turned back and said, "You have a beautiful voice by the way. You shouldn't hide it," Then he grinned and walked out.

I blinked.

What had just happened?

Were me and Frank writing a song together?

Seemed like it.

I couldn't help but let a big grin spread across my face.

I was actually really excited about this now.

I walked out of the rehearsal room and went back over to our table.

Frank wasn't in the room.

I presumed he was getting an amp for his guitar.

I sat down next to Maisie.

She raised her eyebrow at me.

"So...?" She questioned, "What was that about?"

"He um... He wanted to hear me sing."

"You actually sang for him?" She seemed a little shocked.

"Uh yeah..."

"Wow," She obviously hadn't expected that, "I thought it would be a while before you would let him hear you. You know, with him being new and everything. I mean, you still don't let Taylor listen to you."

I just merely shrugged and looked out of the window again.

Frank brought my attention back to Earth when he sat down across from me.

He grinned at me before plugging in his guitar.

He had a piece of notation paper.

I found myself wondering if he'd written music before.

After a few minutes, Frank looked up from a chord he was playing and said, "Could you sing it for me again, Gerard?"

"I um... Sure," I reluctantly stood up and nodded towards the rehearsal room.

He understood and unplugged his guitar.

I followed him back into the rehearsal room.

Before I shut the door behind us, I glanced over at Maisie.

She was looking at me and raised an eyebrow again.

I just shrugged and went into the room.

When the door was shut, I turned towards Frank.

He had plugged his guitar into an amp that happened to be in there and was watching me eagerly.

"Okay, so," I walked up next to him and leant on a table he was against.

I pulled out my book again just so he could see the lyrics.

I held it out in front of us on the correct page.

I could see his eyes scanning through the lines.

"Could you sing the melody?" He looked at me.

"Uh yeah."

It took me a second to take my eyes away from his to look back down at the page.

I coughed a little before singing, "Well if you wanted honesty, that's all you had to say, I never want to let you down or have you go, it's better off this way..."

As I carried on with, "For all the dirty looks," Frank surprised me by joining in.

Like, he started singing along with me.

I was a little surprised but carried on with Frank carrying on with me, "The photographs your boyfriend took, remember how you broke your foot from jumping out the second floor."

I stopped then and so did he.

What a weird moment.

I had never really sung with anyone other than Maisie before.

At the same time, we caught each other's eye and smiled nervously.

"I..." I had never seen Frank speechless before.

He looked like he was rethinking what he was going to say.

I waited, still looking at him.

After a second, he opened his mouth again but his voice was only just louder than a whisper, "I um will work on something to go with the first verse..."

I nodded in reply.

"And maybe an intro of sorts," He cleared his throat and sat up a little.

He looked... What was the word...?

Flustered.

He kind of looked flustered in a way.

To be honest, I think I was a little as well.

He looked at me again before smiling and looking down.

I couldn't help but smile at my feet as well.

I wasn't too sure what had brought this on but I didn't mind it either.

"So yeah," Frank had gained his confidence back, "I'll play around with some chords and riffs and I'll see how it goes. Do you think you could send me the lyrics? Because I'd like to make sure it all fits. That way I could perhaps work on a tab for the melody too."

"Uh yeah, yeah sure," I was slightly taken aback by his question.

He looked at me like he was expecting me to say something.

I wasn't too sure what he wanted though so I kept quiet.

This resulted in him smirking and grabbing a pen out of his pocket.

I frowned as I watched him move his guitar out of the way.

He then shocked me by grabbing my hand.

I froze and my eyes darted to the sleeve of my jumper.

He didn't pull it up.

Of course he didn't.

I was being paranoid for nothing.

Instead, he clicked his pen and wrote something on the back of my hand.

"There," He clicked his pen again when he was done and let go of my hand.

I looked at my hand and my lips turned up at the corners.

"My number," He explained.

I looked up at him.

He had his guitar again and was about to strum something but first, he saw me watching him and winked.

I knew I involuntarily blushed in response.

Maisie appeared at the door then.

"What's going on?" She frowned.

"Um nothing," I looked from Frank to her.

Frank looked up again and grinned at us both.

Maisie was still frowning.

I ignored them both and looked down at the number that was scribbled on the back of my hand.

I smiled to myself before looking back up.


	6. A Whole Lot Of Staring

{Gerard's POV}

 

"I've written more lyrics," I said as soon as I sat down in music the next week.

"Fuck yes," Frank grinned, "And I've composed an intro."

"Really?" My eyes lit up.

"You better believe it, Baby," Frank winked.

You can guess what I did next.

Fucking blushed of course.

Frank noticed and grinned from ear to ear.

"Oh um Maisie's off today," I tried to change the subject.

"How come?"

"Not really sure," I shrugged.

He sat up a little straighter.

"So it's just the two of us?" He asked.

"Looks like it."

"And we have a double today?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm..."

I frowned, "What?"

He started smiling again.

"Just the two of us for two hours... Sounds like fun."

He winked again.

Fuck me.

Every time he did that, I went as red as you can imagine.

Mrs Wells came to my rescue by speaking, "Good morning. Composition for the first hour and then performing for the next."

I was about to get up when Frank passed me my folder.

"Already got it for you."

"Oh um thanks."

He shrugged in response.

I got out my notation paper and lined paper.

I stared at what I had so far.

Not much. 

As I had said, I wasn't as good at composing for instruments as I was for lyrics.

Originally, I was going to compose on the keyboard but somehow Frank had talked me out of it.

He wanted me to compose on a guitar like him.

I kind of knew some chords but I was no guitarist.

Frank said he would help me.

I have no idea why I had agreed.

It seemed like a silly idea now.

What if Frank didn't help me and I was left stranded?

The chair moved next to me.

I looked up to see Frank sitting down.

"You don't mind me sitting here do you?" He asked, "I just thought it would be easier this way."

"Um no sure, go ahead."

He smiled which meant I did too.

"I think the best thing to do would be to use an acoustic instead of an electric. It's a little simpler. Well, for me at least," He said.

I nodded in reply.

He got up and I watched him as he grabbed an acoustic and sat back down.

The rest of the first hour passed by pretty fast.

Frank showed me some chords and taught me some melodies.

I found it kind of interesting to be honest.

The fact that Frank was so passionate about it all made me fall in love with the guitar too.

I loved the way he spoke about it.

I also liked how serious he got when he was teaching me.

I often found myself just staring at him in awe, listening to him talk for ages.

Actually, I don't think I was listening that much.

I was just staring at him.

I couldn't help myself.

"Okay, Gerard?"

"I um what?" I blinked.

He laughed, "Weren't you listening to me?"

"Of course I was," I blushed.

"What did I say then?" He smirked.

"Oh um..." I thought fast, "I don't know."

He laughed again.

"Look, I know I'm beautiful but what's the point in staring at me if you're not even listening?"

I blushed harder.

He had noticed the staring.

He read my mind, "Yeah, I noticed. You couldn't really be more obvious. Just try and keep it under control next time," He winked.

Fuck.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"No worries," He sat back in his chair, "I had to stop myself from doing the same to you a couple of times."

"What?" My eyes widened.

He just shook his head, still smiling.

"You can all move on to performing now," Mrs Wells called out.

Frank shoved his stuff back into his folder and put the acoustic away.

I put my stuff away too and took a deep breath.

I felt so embarrassed.

He sat back next to me, this time with his electric in his arms and an amp next to him.

"New lyrics then?" He raised an eyebrow when I didn't say anything.

"What? Oh yeah."

I leaned under the table to get to my bag.

Once I had my lyrics book, I sat back up.

Frank was still watching me.

I put the book on the table and opened it to the correct page.

Frank surprised me by moving his chair closer to mine so he could see.

He leant over my shoulder to read what I had written.

I had never been so close to him before and my breath caught in my throat.

Jesus.

"Hmm..." He said in my ear, "I like it. I like it a lot. How much more are you going to write?"

I looked at him.

Shit, his face was so close to mine.

"I um... I'm not sure. It's not finished yet though..." My voice was only just louder than a whisper.

He was staring at me.

"Okay," He bit his lip.

I had no idea what the hell this feeling was that had suddenly appeared.

All I knew was... I didn't hate it.

Frank coughed a little before moving away.

I have to say, I was a little disappointed.

What?

No I wasn't.

I wasn't disappointed.

Having Frank sit really close to me had made me feel... Indifferent?

Was that the right word?

I don't know.

All I knew was I wasn't gay.

Gerard.

Repeat after me:

I'm not gay.

Honestly, I wasn't gay.

Nope nope nope.

I swear I spent half my life convincing myself I wasn't.

Fuck, I hated this.

Maybe I was gay and I just needed to accept that.

No.

I wasn't.

I couldn't be.

"Gerard?" Frank raised an eyebrow.

"Um yeah?" I was pulled out of my thoughts.

"It's nothing," He started strumming on his guitar.

I swallowed slowly before turning back to my lyric book.

I had thought of a new set of lyrics.

Not for that song though.

For a new one.

I turned a few pages and started writing.

I decided not to tell Frank about this song because I wasn't sure about it yet.

Although, this song seemed to be writing itself.

I was getting really into it when the bell went.

Frank hadn't spoken to me for the majority of the second hour.

I wasn't sure why.

He looked embarrassed.

I didn't ask him about it though.

The only thing on my mind was this new song.

I already had a name for it.

I'm not sure what inspired it but I kind of liked it.

I wrote the name at the top of the page before packing my stuff away into my bag.

I couldn't stop thinking about that song for the rest of the day.

It was the only thing on my mind.

Demolition Lovers.


	7. Flirtacious Bastards

{Gerard's POV}

 

"This song is coming together nicely," Frank grinned.

We had both forgotten about the awkward lesson yesterday.

At least, I had tried to.

The scene just kept running over and over again in my mind.

I didn't know what to do.

I mean... How did I feel?

No idea.

For the sakes of my sanity, I pushed out those thoughts.

"I'll try and finish the lyrics before next lesson," I said.

"No rush," He shrugged, "Finish them at your own pace. I'd rather it take you ages to write and be perfect than you rushing it and it turning out um not your best."

"It won't be perfect either way."

He looked at me then, "It already is."

I blushed for about the millionth time.

"I'm pretty good at doing that aren't I?"

"Doing what?" I frowned.

"Making you blush," He said casually, "You do it about ten times a day."

"I do not," I blushed even harder, proving his point.

"Sure you don't," He winked.

God, not that wink again.

Hang on.

That made me think of something, "Well if I blush ten times a day, you wink about twenty."

My comment surprised him.

"What? No I don't."

I shook my head, "You do."

"Is that right?" He smirked.

"Yep."

"Okay then," He sat back in his seat, "I'll make you a deal. For the rest of the day, you're not allowed to blush and I'm not allowed to wink."

"But that's not fair because you're the one who makes me blush."

Then I realised what I said.

I had admitted he was the reason I blushed.

Dammit.

He noticed too and smiled, "Well okay. I'll try not to make you blush. See, now it's twice as hard for me."

I thought for a minute.

"Do we have a deal?" He asked.

"I guess that means you won't be speaking to me for the rest of the day then," I replied.

He frowned, "What? Why?"

"Because I doubt you can talk to me without winking or making me blush."

I was kind of shocked at how nonchalantly I was saying all of this.

He laughed, "Oh I accept this challenge."

"It's a challenge now?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You bet your ass it is."

I giggled, "Okay then. Does that mean you win something if you complete it?"

I had no idea where that came from but decided to roll with it.

He leant closer to me over the table.

I felt myself leaning in a little too, to be perfectly honest.

"I hope so. I'll be picking my prize when I do."

I could tell he wanted to wink at that moment but settled for a smile instead.

I opened my mouth to say something when a voice cut me short, "Guys. What the fuck are you two on about?"

We both pulled away to see Maisie staring at us both.

Oh.

I had forgotten she was there...

I bit my lip.

Frank looked like he would start laughing at any minute.

I kind of felt the same.

I felt embarrassed too.

"Just you know..." Frank tried to stop himself smiling but failed, "Talking."

"Yeah..." Maisie's expression said it all.

Frank was right though.

All we were doing was talking.

What was wrong with that?

Sure it had taken a um... Odd turn.

In fact, was I crazy in thinking it had turned a little... What was the word... Flirty?

Yeah, flirty.

Had Frank been flirting with me?

I'd never had someone talk to me in that sort of way before.

But wait...

I had acted in the same way.

Oh.

Had I been flirting with Frank?

I looked at him.

He was grinning at me.

"The challenge starts now," He said.

I couldn't help but smile back.

"Well expect to lose, Iero."

"In your dreams, Way."

"Guys!" Maisie cut in again.

We both fell silent.

I sheepishly looked up from my feet at Frank.

He was grinning at me again.

I had a hard time trying not to smile.

He could tell I would crack at any minute so started licking his lips slowly.

That was it.

I started silently sniggering.

Maisie looked at me and frowned before looking at Frank.

Frank put his tongue away and started whistling, looking away.

I couldn't stop silently laughing.

There was just something about Frank that got to me.

He really knew how to make me smile.

I liked that.

It was nice to be smiling for a change.

Maisie rolled her eyes before continuing with her work.

Frank was looking at me again.

He smiled.

I had stopped laughing now but smiled back at him.

The bell went.

I was a little disappointed.

Once we had packed up, he turned to me and said, "See you at lunch. Do me a favour and don't blush when you see me. I know it's hard because I'm just so goddamn irresistible. Just try and hold in all the love."

I shook my head, smiling, "Whatever you tell yourself to help you sleep at night."

He laughed at that and left the room.

Maisie was by my side.

"What's with you guys?" She bit her lip.

"What do you mean?" I frowned as we made our way to English.

"The flirting," She seemed annoyed.

"I um... The what?"

"Don't deny it, Gee."

"We're just joking around," I shrugged.

She didn't seem too convinced.

We were just joking though.

It wasn't like we liked each other or anything like that...

English passed by painfully.

I was itching to get to lunch just to see Frank.

I had never had that sort of feeling about wanting to see someone before.

It was weird.

But I guess a good weird.

When the bell went, I jumped out of my seat and headed straight for the door.

I didn't even wait for Maisie.

I know, weird.

I didn't get very far though.

As soon as I was out off the classroom, I stopped.

Frank was waiting in the corridor.

"Hey," He smiled.

"Oh, hi," I smiled back.

We started walking outside in silence.

"How's the challenge going?" I asked hesitantly after a minute.

"We have yet to find out," He smirked.

I smiled at my feet.

We were outside then, near the group of people we usually hung out with.

We stopped before we were too close though.

It looked like it would be just the two of us for a while.

And by a while I meant two seconds.

Maisie and Taylor appeared at our side.

"Hey," Taylor beamed.

We both smiled in response.

Maisie didn't say anything.

I gotta say, her mood was really getting on my nerves at that point.

I decided to just ignore her.

No one said anything.

That was until Frank broke the silence, "So... How was everyone's last two lessons?"

He looked at me, "Mine were pretty good."

He winked.

And of course, I blushed at the same time.

It didn't take him long to realise what he'd done.

"Aw shit!" He moaned.

His expression was priceless.

I started laughing, "I told you you couldn't do it!"

"I was so close!"

"Yeah not really," I smirked.

"Alright, fine I wasn't."

I couldn't stop grinning.

"You didn't even make it five minutes," I laughed.

"That's too bad," He smiled, "I was really looking forward to my prize..."

I blushed again and had to look at my feet.

When I had collected myself, I looked up to see Taylor and Maisie with complete shock on their faces.

Frank looked at them too and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" I frowned.

Taylor shook her head, "You guys are just... Jesus Christ."

Maisie nodded in agreement.

"They were like this in music too," She said quietly.

Frank started grinning away.

I looked at my feet again and smiled.

I liked behaving this way with Frank.

Even if it meant embarrassing the hell out of myself.


	8. Stopped Again

{Gerard's POV}

 

I stared in awe at Frank as he played his guitar.

The way he handled it was just so amazing.

I loved the fact he couldn't stay still.

He had to move around.

Even if he was just walking around a bit.

Of course his head bounced around like crazy when he was playing.

When he had finished, he looked at me expectantly.

"Just... Wow!"

"Really?" Frank smiled.

"Yeah! I really liked it!" I grinned.

"Awesome," Frank sat on the table next to me, "Do you want to try singing along?"

I took a deep breath, "Yeah... Yeah, I'll try."

Frank smiled again and started strumming.

I couldn't help but smile as I listened to the intro.

I really did like it.

It was faster than I had originally intended but it sounded better that way.

Frank nodded at me when it was my cue.

"Well, if you wanted honesty, that's all you had to say, I never want to-"

"Shit!" Frank stopped playing.

"What is it?" I asked, my voice full of concern.

Frank shook his head.

"I just fucked up that's all. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have stopped. Shall we go again?"

I nodded.

"Why don't you stand up? I've heard that if you stand up when singing it projects your voice more."

"Okay."

I slowly stood up.

Frank nodded at me and started again.

I was a little more nervous this time but tried my best.

The intro ended and it was my cue.

"Well, if you wanted honesty, that's all you had to say. I never want to let you down or have you go, it's better off this way! For all the dirty looks, the photographs your boyfriend took! Remember when you broke your foot from jumping out the second floor!"

We both stopped.

I realised then that as the verse had drawn to a close, I had gotten louder.

Frank grinned at me, "Jeez, where did that come from? That was the loudest I've ever heard you."

I blushed a little.

"That's a good thing by the way," He took his guitar off of his shoulder, "It sounded better. I think we'll have to find a microphone next time."

"A... A microphone?"

"Yeah," Frank put his guitar back in his case, "That's not a problem is it?"

"I um... Of course not," I tried to smile.

Frank looked at me and it was hard to avoid his eye contact.

"Gerard," He touched my arm, "It'll just be me. It's not like anyone else will hear you. That was the reason we decided to come after school, remember?"

I nodded.

He smiled and let go of my arm.

I missed his simple touch.

Um... No.

That sounded weird.

I watched him as he threw his guitar case onto his back along with his school bag.

I grabbed mine too and put it on.

We walked out of the Performing Arts block together and across the playground.

"So... You doing anything this weekend?" Frank asked randomly.

"Um I'm visiting my dad," I replied.

"Cool. Does he live far?"

"I guess. An hour or so away."

Frank nodded.

After a moment he said, "I haven't seen my dad in six years."

My eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He just left and never came back. It was just me and my mum for a while until she met Sam that is."

I thought about this.

"I don't see my dad very much," I told him, "Only about once a month and sometimes not even that."

Why was I telling Frank this?

Most of my friends didn't even know this.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

I looked at him.

He had sympathy in his eyes.

"It's fine. At least I see him. I'm sorry your dad left."

"Eh, I don't really care about that bastard. If he came back now, I wouldn't give him a second glance," He replied.

I didn't say anything else.

Neither did he until we reached the gate.

"See you then," He grinned, "Have a nice weekend."

"Yeah. You too," I smiled in response.

I thought he would go then but he surprised me by leaning in and wrapping his arms around me.

It took me a moment to realise what he was doing.

I returned the hug and we stood like that until he finally pulled away.

He smiled again before walking away.

For a few minutes, I just stood there, thinking about what had just happened.

A huge smile grew on my face as I started walking down the road.

I didn't get very far though of course.

"Bit late today aren't you?"

I froze, the smile disappearing.

Lewis and his friends walked out of the alley just like they always did and blocked my path.

I sighed.

My good mood was about to be ruined.

"How's it going, Gayboy?" Lewis grinned.

"Uh..." I never knew what to say in these situations.

"Who was that you were just with?" He asked.

They... They had seen me with Frank...?

Oh God.

"Was that your boyfriend?" He smirked.

I shook my head.

"Why'd you hug him then?" One of Lewis's friend, Jack, frowned.

"I... He's my friend," I said quietly.

"Aww!" Lewis laughed, "Your friend! How sweet. You got a little crush on him?"

I shook my head again.

"See, I think you're lying to us," Lewis walked closer.

I backed up a little.

"Where're you going? We're all friends here," He grinned.

I was beginning to get really scared then.

"I-I want to go home..." I whimpered.

I knew I sounded pathetic but I couldn't help myself.

"You want to go home? Bless," Lewis started laughing and his friends joined in.

I cowered away from them.

When he had done laughing, Lewis's tone got darker, "If I find out you were lying to us and he is actually your boyfriend... I won't be too happy."

I swallowed slowly.

That didn't sound too good...

"Now," He started smiling again, "As I'm in a good mood and it's Friday, I'll let you get home to your mummy and daddy."

He and his friends moved aside and he gestured for me to pass.

Slowly, and not taking my eyes off of them, I edged past them.

When I had passed them all, I practically started jogging down the road.

I heard them laughing behind me but I ignored them.

That wasn't fair.

I couldn't be happy for at least one minute could I?


	9. Jealousy

{Maisie's POV}

 

Why?

Why did I have to like him?

It just wasn't fair.

It wasn't like anything would happen.

Gerard was my best friend.

If I told him how I felt, it would makes things super awkward.

I didn't want that at all.

And I didn't want to lose him.

But these feelings weren't going.

Ugh!

I wish I didn't feel this way.

Those feelings meant I wasn't talking to him as much.

I wasn't exactly avoiding him; I just wasn't speaking to him very much.

And because he was pretty quiet anyway, this resulted in him not speaking to me much either.

I felt like we were slowly drifting apart.

I wonder if he felt that way too.

He probably hadn't noticed.

He was too busy hanging out with Frank.

Frank.

Where did he even come from?

He just came out of nowhere and thought he had the right to flirt with Gee!

That's right, flirting.

He was totally flirting with him at any chance he got.

I wasn't sure if Gerard was flirting back but sometimes it really looked like he was.

Maybe he was and I was just trying to block it out.

He wasn't gay.

...Was he?

Who knew?

Probably not even Gee.

He always denied it.

What if he was?

I shook my head, shaking those thoughts out.

Gerard's voice caught my attention.

I looked up to see him and Frank walking out of the practice room.

They always spent at least half an hour in there every practical lesson.

Leaving me on my own.

With my thoughts.

Not fun.

I watched them as they talked.

I could just about hear what they were saying.

Gerard: How long would you say?

Frank: Maybe about a day or so. Once I get composing, I don't stop.

Gerard: Cool. Well, I'm glad I finished the lyrics this weekend. It's taken a bit of pressure off.

Frank: I told you there was no point in rushing. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pressure you.

Gerard: You didn't, it's fine.

Frank placed a hand on one of Gerard's shoulders.

Frank: Look, if you ever feel stressed or pressured into finishing any lyrics in the future, tell me. I don't want you to feel like that.

Gerard smiled.

Gerard: Does that mean we'll be writing more music together in the future?

Frank: If that's okay with you.

Frank winked.

Gerard blushed.

Gerard: Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that a lot.

I had to look away then.

Even small things like that bugged me.

Frank was really getting on my nerves but I had no idea why.

Okay, I knew why.

I couldn't help not liking him though.

Well, maybe I would like him a little more if he took his hands off of Gerard.

That was another thing he did.

He was always finding an excuse to touch him.

Just a little bit annoying.

Sometimes I was really tempted to slap his hand away.

I never did of course but I wanted to.

Anyway, why was I worrying?

Gerard wasn't gay.

Nothing was going to happen between them.

I was overanalysing everything.

I laughed to myself, thinking how silly my thoughts were.

The chair next to me moved and Gerard sat down next to me.

We looked at each other at the same time but neither of us said anything.

Frank was in the seat opposite to Gee.

Gerard looked away from me to Frank.

He smiled at him and Frank smiled back.

My blood boiled and I clenched my fists under the table.

Okay, okay, calm down, Maisie.

It's not like they're going out or anything.

They're just friends.

Smiling means nothing.

All they were doing was writing songs together.

No big deal.

Although, I did feel a little jealous.

I would have loved to have written songs with Gee.

Looks like I missed my chance.

Stupid Frank...

Why did he have so much confidence?

That was really annoying because I hardly had any.

Could I steal some of his?

Maybe then I could make Gee laugh and flirt with him so he blushed.

That would be amazing.

But I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Ugh!

It was so unfair!

"So," Frank suddenly said, "Guess what?"

"What?" Gerard raised an eyebrow.

"Guess, Gerard."

"Just tell me."

"No, go on! Guess!"

Seriously?

Just fucking tell him.

"Okay then," Gerard smirked, "Hmm..."

Frank was grinning.

"Give me a clue."

Frank shook his head, "No clues."

"Aw," Gerard pouted.

"Guess!" Frank leant in a bit.

Fucking hell.

This was painful.

"Just tell me, Frank!" Gerard laughed.

Frank sighed before smiling again.

"Fine, I'll tell you."

Thank God for that.

"It's my birthday soon."

"Really?" Gerard's eyes widened, "When?"

"End of October."

"Ooh! What day?"

"Thirty-first."

Halloween?

"Halloween?" Gerard asked.

"Yep. Aren't I lucky?"

"Yeah! That's actually really cool."

"Thanks," Frank grinned.

I have to admit, having your birthday on Halloween was pretty cool.

"Does this mean I have to get you something?" Gerard said.

"Nah, that's okay," Frank replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah. I don't want anything."

Gerard smiled a little.

I knew he would probably get him something anyway.

I knew Gee.

And he obviously was already pretty close to Frank.

Sigh.

I kind of wished Frank had never come.

Hang on!

Why was I thinking all of this?

They weren't going out or anything like that.

They were just friends.

One bisexual guy and one heterosexual guy being friends.

Nothing would happen.

I had nothing to worry about.


	10. Frank, Meet Mikey

{Gerard's POV}

 

"Beautiful!" Frank grinned as we finished another rehearsal.

I blushed.

"If you say so."

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Gerard. Honestly, you have a really fucking beautiful voice. Don't you ever think otherwise."

I looked down and smiled at my feet.

I didn't believe him of course but I liked it when he complimented my singing.

And that happened to be a lot.

I always blushed whenever he did.

Maybe that was the reason he did.

After all, he had said he enjoyed making me blush.

I can't say I agreed.

When he had put his guitar away and slung it over his shoulder, we walked out of the music block.

I could see this falling into a usual routine and I liked it.

We walked to the usual gate, talking about random crap.

We never ran out of things to talk about anymore.

Our walk to the gate was growing familiar.

We reached it and that was when we noticed Mikey.

He was standing next to the gate looking pretty pissed off.

"Hey, Mikes," I frowned when we met up with him, "What are you doing here?"

"Mum told me you were doing something after school. I had coursework to catch up on so I thought I'd wait for you."

"Oh okay. Um... What's up? You look kind of annoyed."

He laughed a little but it wasn't a happy sound.

"Yeah, 'kind of' is an understatement," He huffed.

Mikey didn't get annoyed easily so something must have really ticked him off.

"What is it?" Frank asked.

Mikey looked at Frank and frowned.

Right, they hadn't met.

"Uh Mikey, this is my um friend, Frank. Frank, this is my brother, Mikey," I introduced them.

"Hi," Frank smiled.

"Um hi," Mikey smiled as best he could in this agitated mood.

"So what's happened?" I asked.

He groaned a little before giving in and telling us, "Those fucking twats dropped me!"

Was I missing something?

"What?" I was confused.

So was Frank by the looks of it.

Mikey sighed and explained, "My band. Well, EX band now! I was fucking co-founder and they've gone and kicked me out!"

What?

That seemed really unfair.

"Why?" Frank seemed annoyed on Mikey's behalf.

Mikey shrugged, "No idea! They just said I didn't have the right 'sound'. Whatever the fuck that is."

What a stupid reason!

Fuck them!

Mikey was an amazing musician!

"What a bunch of pricks!" Frank spat, "They don't fucking deserve you anyway."

"Thanks!" Mikey nodded, "Maybe I'll start a new band! That'll show them."

I saw something in Frank's head click then.

What was he-

"Yeah! Do that!" He agreed.

"What, really?" Mikey obviously hadn't been serious.

"Absolutely! What instrument do you play?"

"Bass," Mikey told him.

Mikey was pretty good on the bass and I had always been a bit jealous of how well he played it.

I used to watch him practice back when we were a bit closer.

I guess my depression had pushed him away a bit.

"Really?" Frank's eyes widened.

"Yeah."

Frank looked at me and smiled.

What was he doing...?

Frank grinned at Mikey, "It just so happens that me and Gerard are in a band."

"We are?" I raised an eyebrow.

This was news to me.

"Yep! Well, we are now."

Well... Okay then.

I was fine with that.

I guess we were technically in a band already.

"Gerard? In a band?" Mikey looked at me, "What does he play? The tambourine?"

He laughed a little.

I narrowed my eyes at my little brother.

"No," I replied.

"He sings," Frank told him, "Lead vocals."

Mikey's eyes widened, "What? Since when did you sing?"

I shrugged, not sure what to say.

"He also writes lyrics," Frank said proudly.

"Really?" Mikey seemed impressed.

"I guess," I admitted.

"So there!" Frank was getting excited, "Gerard sings. You play bass. And I-"

"What do you play?" Mikey didn't give him the chance to say.

I knew it was my turn to big Frank up then.

"He plays the electric and he is amazing! You should hear him!"

Frank looked at me and smiled.

I blushed and smiled back.

"Okay, cool," Mikey nodded, thinking things over.

I waited to see what he would say.

Were we actually starting a band?

This was crazy.

"Are we actually being serious?" Mikey asked, "Do you really wanna start a band?"

"Fuck yeah!" Frank grinned, "I've always wanted to be in a band. Plus we've already finished writing a song."

"Wow so you guys are really serious about this?"

Apparently so.

"Okay then, yeah. Yeah, count me in. When are rehearsals?"

Jesus Christ.

I couldn't believe my ears.

Mikey had actually agreed?

"Every Friday after school. Like today," Frank told him, still beaming away.

He was really excited, I could tell.

To be honest, I was a little now too.

Mikey nodded, "Cool. Come on then, Gee. I want to get home and eat something."

"Okay."

I turned to Frank, "See you on Monday."

"Yeah, see you in music," He smiled and leant in.

He hugged me again.

Just like last week.

Fuck...

It still shocked me.

He pulled away, grinned at me and smiled at Mikey before walking away.

"See you after school on Friday!" He called behind him, beaming at me.

I grinned at him.

I watched him go for a moment before Mikey coughed a little.

I looked at him.

"So? Home? Food? Warmth?"

"Yeah, let's go."

He smiled a little and we started walking.

We passed the alley.

I anxiously looked for Lewis and his friends but they weren't there.

They never were when Mikey was with me.

Thank God.

"Jesus," Mikey said after a few minutes, "I can't believe we've actually started a band."

"Me either," I nodded.

I really couldn't believe it.

It had happened so fast.

I was still getting over the initial shock of it all.

"You sing then, huh?" Mikey grinned.

"I guess... A little."

"Can't wait to hear you."

Oh God.

Another person to sing in front of?

Uh...

I wasn't sure if I liked that.

I really hoped I was as good as Frank had implied.

The last thing you want in a band is a shitty singer.

And I was pretty sure I was one.

"So who was that guy then?" Mikey asked, "He certainly had some balls to suddenly suggest all of that. It took us ages to even think about calling ourselves a band in my last one."

I smiled.

"Yeah Frank doesn't let opportunities slip by."

"I can see that. He better be as good as you said he is on the guitar."

I grinned at my brother, "He's better."


	11. First Rehearsal

{Gerard's POV}

 

"Ready, Gerard?"

"No, not really."

Frank smirked at me, "Come on! We've got to show Mikey what we've got so far."

"Can't you just show him what you've got and work from that? I'm not feeling too well."

Mikey rolled his eyes at me.

"I'm serious," I bit my lip, "I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

"Sit down. Do you have a drink?" Frank asked, concern edging his voice.

I shook my head as I sat back down on a chair.

Frank quickly put his guitar on one of the tables and started rooting around in his bag.

A moment later, he was holding a bottle of water.

"Here," He handed it to me.

"Thanks," I smiled and took a sip.

Frank smiled back before putting his guitar back on and facing Mikey.

"Okay, so," Frank strummed a little, "The intro's fairly simple..."

I watched as he played the song and explained different parts to Mikey.

Mikey listened intently and nodded every now and then.

I have to say, the song really was coming along nicely.

Frank was an amazing musician and composer.

Watching him really fascinated me.

When Frank had finished a rough run-through of the song, he looked at Mikey expectantly.

I looked at him too.

He was deep in thought, I could tell.

"Well," He said after a moment, "That really is a fucking amazing song."

Frank beamed in pride, "Right?! I'm so excited about this!"

Mikey nodded, "You should be. It's awesome. Although, it would've been better with a voice."

They both looked at me.

I blushed a little.

"Maybe next time," I mumbled.

Frank's expression dropped a little and Mikey tutted.

He turned back to Frank.

"Okay, so I can really hear the bass line."

"Yeah?" Frank grinned.

"Totally. Can you record yourself playing it and make me a copy? I'd like to work on it."

"Yeah, sure thing!" Frank was practically bouncing off the ceiling, "I'll do that this weekend and have it ready for you on Monday."

"Cool," Mikey smiled, "I can tell this is gonna be an epic song."

"Definitely," Frank agreed.

Mikey looked at me.

"You do know that I'm gonna have to hear you eventually, okay, Gee?"

I swallowed slowly, "Okay..."

"His voice is worth the wait," Frank suddenly chimed in, "He's rad."

I blushed and had to look down.

Frank seriously needed to stop complimenting my singing.

But to be perfectly honest, I liked it when he did.

Mikey checked his watch.

"Come on, Gee. We'd better get going."

"Okay," I stood up and gave Frank back his water.

"Thanks," I said as he took it out of my hand and placed it on the table.

"No problem," He smiled, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Funny that," Mikey spoke from the doorway, "You suddenly make a miraculous recovery when you don't have to sing anymore. What a coincidence."

He left the room.

I looked down.

"Don't worry about it," I suddenly felt Frank's hand on my shoulder.

I looked up to see him standing pretty close...

Uh...

"Confidence takes time. I won't pressure you and if Mikey does, well... He'll have me to answer to."

I couldn't help but smile.

Frank smiled back before shoving his guitar off of his back.

At the same time, we both spotted his bottle of water that was still on the table.

For some reason, I grabbed for it... And so did Frank.

Our hands touched as we both touched the bottle.

Neither of us moved them though.

I looked up from our touching hands to Frank's face.

He was already looking at me.

...What was happening?

We stood like that for a couple of moments before I got embarrassed and pulled my hand away.

I shyly looked up from under my eyelashes to see Frank picking up the bottle.

His face was red.

Was he embarrassed too?

He shoved the water bottle back into his shoulder bag and cleared his throat.

"Come on then," He mumbled, leaving the room.

I frowned and followed him.

Mikey had already gone and was waiting by the gate.

Frank didn't say anything as we walked; he kept his face down.

I wasn't sure why he was behaving that way but I was too scared to ask.

When we reached the gate, he looked at me.

He wasn't red anymore and was smiling again.

"Maybe we could do something this weekend?" He suddenly suggested, out of the blue.

"Um yeah, okay," I blinked a few times.

"Cool. I'll text you."

"Okay."

We both looked at Mikey.

Secretly, I didn't want him to come along.

Not sure why though.

"Hey, don't look at me," He said, "I've got plans. You guys will have to make do with each other's company."

Frank looked at me and winked.

Oh yeah?

What's that?

The sound of me blushing?

Yes.

"See you next Friday, Frank," Mikey smiled.

"Yeah, okay," Frank grinned back before turning to me, "See you tomorrow I guess."

"Yeah, okay," I agreed.

He then did what I had expected:

He hugged me.

And then he turned and walked down the road.

I smiled at his departing figure before starting the walk home with Mikey.

"Do you guys always have to hug?" Mikey suddenly asked.

"Um..." I wasn't sure how to respond.

"It's none of my business," Mikey continued, "I was just wondering because you do it every time I see you together."

"So that's today and last Friday?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well yeah-"

I laughed.

"What?" He frowned.

"Nothing," I shook my head.

He didn't say anything else.

This made the walk home silent.

That was fine by me.

I was listening out for my phone.

I was getting ready to receive a text from Frank.

I had never made plans to meet up with him outside of school before so I was a bit nervous.

Would it just be me and him?

Were we going to invite anyone else like Maisie or Taylor?

For some reason I hoped not.

I wanted it to be just me and Frank.

Why?

Not sure.

I wasn't gay or anything.

I guess I just liked his company.

Yeah.

Yeah, that was it.


	12. Meeting Up

{Gerard's POV}

 

Did I look okay?

Hair was styled just right.

Clothes were alright.

There wasn't really anything else I could do.

I was kind of jealous of girls.

There were loads of different things they could do to make themselves look good.

What else could I do?

I looked at my hands.

I hadn't painted my nails in a long time...

A while ago, I had painted them black for Halloween but didn't bother to take it off for a week afterwards.

I did in the end of course.

Maybe I should paint them again.

What was the harm?

Mikey and my mum were downstairs.

I crept into my mum's room and rummaged round her dressing table.

It didn't take me long to find some black nail polish.

She didn't use it often so probably wouldn't miss it.

I grabbed it and darted back into my room.

Sitting on my bed, I unscrewed the cap.

The whiff of the nail polish was strong.

I kind of liked the smell.

When I had painted the left hand, I waited for it to dry.

I wasn't very experienced with painting nails so I had gotten a bit on my fingers.

I could always wash it off after.

Waiting for it to dry was boring.

It finally did though and I painted the other hand.

This one wasn't as neat of course.

I checked the time.

It was almost ten past twelve.

I would have to leave in a minute.

Good thing both hands were dry.

I wandered into the bathroom and washed off the bits that had dripped onto my fingers.

There.

I looked in the mirror.

I kind of liked my nails painted black.

Time to go.

Shoving my phone into my pocket, I went downstairs.

"Bye, mum," I headed for the front door.

"Hold on!" She called behind me.

I sighed and walked into the lounge.

Mikey was on the sofa, on his phone.

He looked up when he saw me.

My mum was standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Where are you going?" She frowned.

"Just out," I shrugged.

"Out where?" She pressed on.

Mikey spoke up then, "He's meeting up with his boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!" I instantly denied.

My mum raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you meeting up with?" She asked.

I sighed, "My friend, Frank."

She frowned again, "Frank? Who's Frank? You've never mentioned him before."

"He's new," I explained.

She nodded.

"He's pretty cool," Mikey said.

I half smiled at my brother.

Frank was cool.

"When will you be back?" She asked.

"I don't know."

"Well... Have a good time," She smiled.

I smiled in response.

Mikey frowned at me.

"Are... Are you wearing nail polish?"

My face went red and I went for door.

"Of course not... Bye."

I slammed the front door behind me.

I sighed a sigh of relief before getting my headphones out of my pocket and plugging them into my phone.

I put it on shuffle and began walking.

Smashing Pumpkins first and it made me smile.

I was meeting Frank at half twelve in the centre of town.

I didn't live too far away.

It would only take me ten, fifteen minutes.

He wasn't there when I got there.

I leant against the side of a building while I waited, Slipknot in my ears.

A few minutes passed by.

I didn't notice him at first until he waved a hand in my face.

I woke up from my daydream and pulled my headphones out of my ears.

"Hey!" He grinned.

"Hi..." I was nervous.

He surprised me by pulling me into a hug.

I would never get used to these.

Although, I liked them a lot.

When he pulled away, he asked, "How's it going?"

I shrugged, "Alright I guess. What about you?"

"Around the same."

He noticed my hands then.

"I didn't know you painted your nails."

I blushed a little, still a little anxious that I had actually done it.

"Uh sometimes..."

His smile didn't waver.

"I like it. It suits you!"

"Thanks..." I smiled a little.

I noticed his t-shirt then.

"I like your t-shirt."

It was a Misfits one.

"Cheers," He grinned, "I like yours!"

I had to look down to remind myself what it was.

Asking Alexandria of course.

"Thanks."

He looked down at his feet before looking back up.

"Okay, now all the complimenting is out of the way," He laughed a little, "You wanna show me around? I don't go into town much."

"Really?" I frowned, "How come?"

His smile went then.

He bit his lip, "I guess... I've never really had anyone to go with before."

I instantly felt sorry for him.

"That's kind of sad," I said without thinking.

"Yeah I know," He agreed, "Still... I have you now."

He started smiling again.

"Yeah, you do," I nodded, smiling too.

"Good," He winked.

I actually managed not to blush that time.

Wow.

New record.

"Where to first then?" He asked.

I thought for a second.

"I know a really good music shop."

His eyes widened a little.

"Then lead the way!"

He gestured for me to walk on.

I smiled before leading him down the street.

The day passed pretty quickly.

I didn't really want it to end.

Usually, I avoided meeting up with friends.

I wasn't sure why.

Maybe because I just needed a break from them sometimes or because I was never in the mood.

But with Frank it was different.

I enjoyed the day a lot.

I took him to all my favourite places and I think he liked them all.

We never ran out of anything to talk about and we laughed a lot.

Frank always found a way to make me laugh.

I kind of liked that.

Eventually, the day had to end though.

My mum called me at about six, asking where I was.

She also asked me to come back home so she could start dinner.

When I told Frank, his face dropped a little.

"Aw! I was really enjoying this!" He pouted.

"Me too," I admitted, "But I've gotta go."

He walked me to where we had met up earlier that afternoon.

"I'll text you later," He said.

I nodded.

"We should do this more often," He grinned.

"Yeah, definitely," I agreed.

Of course he hugged me then.

I really, really liked his hugs.

They were even better than my mum's.

After waving goodbye, I started the trek home.

It didn't take too long.

"Gerard? Is that you?" My mum called from the kitchen as soon as I shut the front door behind me.

"Yeah!" I called back.

She appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Have a good time?" She asked.

"Yeah," I nodded, "I did."

And of course that wasn't a lie because I really fucking did.

Frank was such good company and I loved spending time with him.

Now I had to wait two days to see him again.

Ugh.

Good thing we could text each other because I didn't want to wait until Monday to talk to him again.

I was beginning to really like Frank.


	13. Shock Attack

{Gerard's POV}

 

"See you tomorrow," He grinned.

"Yeah okay," I smiled back.

He hugged me.

The hugging had turned into a daily thing now.

Not that I minded.

"Practical tomorrow in music," He reminded me when he pulled away.

I nodded.

"See you," I waved a little as I walked away.

He beamed and waved back.

I smiled to myself as I walked out of the gate.

That didn't last long though.

Lewis and his friends were standing right outside the gate.

I froze as soon as I saw them.

"Hello!" Lewis grinned, "We thought we'd surprise you today. Are you surprised?"

I didn't know what to do or say.

"I'll take that as a yes," He laughed.

I stayed silent.

"So, you lied to us," He suddenly said casually.

I frowned, wondering what he was going on about.

"That guy," He nodded towards the school, "He IS your boyfriend."

I slowly shook my head, too scared to speak.

He walked closer to me.

His posé followed suit.

I backed away a little.

"I'm not happy that you lied to us," He continued.

"I-I didn't..." I managed to stutter.

"You did," His smile disappeared, "We saw you with him on Saturday. Have a nice date?"

Fuck.

That wasn't fair.

"So?!" His voice raised.

I flinched.

This wasn't fun at all.

What could I do?

There was only one thing I could think of.

It was time to run.

I bolted away from them, across the road.

I was't fast enough this time though.

As I was just about to pass the alley, I felt two sets of hands grab me.

I tried to pull away but they were too strong for me.

I was dragged into the alley and thrown onto the floor.

In all honesty, I was petrified.

They had never used violence before.

I looked up to see Lewis towering over me.

"Queer!" He spat, "You deserve to rot in hell!"

This had really gotten out of hand quickly.

Silent tears rolled down my cheeks.

He laughed then.

"Look what we've got here, Lads! A queer AND a crybaby!"

I cowered against his words.

This was humiliating.

"What have you got to say for yourself?!" Lewis yelled at me, "Fucking gayboy!"

I wasn't gay...

My lack of replies was annoying him.

"Get up!" He tried to pull me up off the floor.

It was a little forced but I managed to stand up.

The tears were still pouring.

What was he going to do to me?

I looked at his friends.

There were three of them in total.

They didn't seem to want to do anything anytime soon.

Just watching was enough for them.

Lewis shocked me then by punching me in the gut.

I doubled over both in pain and surprise.

Fuck, that hurt.

"Queer!" He yelled in my face.

I looked up at him just in time for his fist to connect with my cheek.

The effect forced me to fall backwards against the wall behind me.

I just about managed to keep upright.

"You don't deserve to live!" He continued to sneer at me, "You're just a pathetic piece of shit."

He came up next to me and smiled a sick smile.

How long would this go on for?

He brought his fist back again and it smacked against my eye this time.

Shit!

That hurt more than the last one.

Instantly, my hands reached for my wounded eye.

I couldn't open it from the pain.

He was laughing at me and his friends joined in.

"HEY!!" I suddenly heard from the end of the alley.

I couldn't really see who it was.

I was feeling nauseous from the punch to the gut.

Lewis' head snapped up and he made eye contact with his friends.

"YOU FUCKERS!!" The mystery person yelled again.

I think they ran off then because a moment later, they were nowhere to be seen.

I slowly crumpled onto the floor like a piece of old paper.

Footsteps were coming towards me.

They were fast too.

"Gerard?!" The person was next to me.

Wait!

They knew my name?

I looked up to see a worried figure looking down at me.

"Fr-Frank...?"

I couldn't believe it.

What the fuck was Frank doing here?

He sat down next to me, the worried expression never leaving his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I laughed a little, a humourless sound.

"Just grand."

He hesitantly reached out and touched my face but pulled away when I squinted in pain.

My eye was swollen.

I could hardly see out of it.

Only just about.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," He sighed, leaning his back against the wall like me.

I shrugged, "Not your fault."

"Is this the first time? Or...?" He bit his lip.

"Well... The violence is new," I admitted.

He sighed.

"Why didn't you tell me you were being bothered?"

I didn't know what to say so I just shrugged again.

This resulted in another sigh from Frank.

"How did you know...?" I asked after a second.

"I saw them ambush you outside the gate," He replied.

I nodded a little.

I was really embarrassed.

I would've preferred the beating to Frank seeing how pathetic I was.

The guy in question spoke again, "I won't let that happen to you again. I promise."

I looked at him.

"Why?"

He looked at me as if I were crazy, "No one should have to go through something like that. Especially you."

"Me?" I questioned, "Why me?"

"You don't deserve it. I don't want you to get hurt."

I tried to wipe away the endless supply of tears but they were just replaced by fresh ones.

"Gerard."

I looked at him again.

He was sitting pretty close...

"You don't deserve this, okay?"

I just nodded slowly 

I wasn't sure what to say.

He kept near me, his eyes locked with mine.

What was he doing...?

No...

He wasn't about to...

No, I was going crazy.

But then...

He leant in.

Oh God.

My heart was suddenly beating like mad.

My palms were sweating too.

What was happening??

Why was I feeling like this?!

I wasn't gay!

Everything was happening in slow motion.

Frank's eyes were closing.

Was he going to kiss me??

Oh God.

Oh God, oh God!

He was so close to me now and...

Wait a second!

Was his hand on my thigh?!

Fucking hell!

I'm not gay... I'm not!

I'm not gay!

Not gay! Not gay! Not gay! Not gay!

I'M NOT GAY!!

His lips touched mine and I melted into him.

Oh fuck... I'm gay.


	14. Freaking Out

{Gerard's POV}

 

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

What was happening?!

I was kissing Frank?!

No.

What.

Fuck.

Jesus.

Was this actually happening?

And...

How did I feel about it?

Did I like it?

No...

But.

I did.

I did like it.

Fucking hell.

I hadn't expected that.

So um...

Did this mean... I was gay...?

I think so.

When did that happen?

I was straight last time I had checked.

...Wasn't I?

Oh I don't know!

All I know is that Frank was kissing me and I was fucking kissing him back.

Why the fuck was I kissing him back?!

This was all too much for me to handle.

I mean, I had just been beaten on and then Frank comes out of nowhere and-

Oh God.

This was actually happening.

This wasn't a dream or anything.

This was real life.

Fuck!

Uhhh...

I couldn't deal with this.

It was pathetic but I was freaking out.

What could I do?

I abruptly ended the kiss.

Frank's eyes fluttered open and widened in surprise.

My breathing had sped up and was out of control.

"Gerard...?"

What could I say?

What could I do?

No fucking clue.

"I-I..." I stuttered, trying to think of what to say.

Would could I say?!

He waited, a worried expression set across his face.

I felt bad.

"I don't know... I..." I tried to organise my thoughts.

My mind was all over the place.

I was so confused.

"I can't do this... I don't know what's happening. I..."

I moved away from him and stood up.

He was staring at me and... Were those tears in his eyes?

Dear God I hope not.

"Gerard..." He said again but sounded unsure this time.

His voice shook.

I really felt bad then.

But I couldn't do this.

I just shook my head and darted out of the alley.

"Gerard!"

I ignored him as the tears fell down my face.

Even though I felt sick from that punch in the stomach, I managed to run down the road.

In fact, I didn't stop until I reached my street.

I have no idea how in the name of hell I managed to run for that long.

I just did.

No one was home when I slammed the front door behind me.

Thank God for that.

My mum was still at work and who knew where Mikey was?

I was kind of glad it was just me.

I didn't want anyone to see me.

And I had no idea how to explain what had just happened.

After throwing my bag down and kicking off my shoes, I ran up the stairs.

I burst through my bedroom door and shut it behind me.

The tears were still going and I felt pathetic for crying.

Why was I crying anyway?

I guess that finding out you could be possibly gay is a big thing.

But was I?

That was the question that just kept running through my head.

Frank was bi.

I knew that.

For some reason Taylor had felt the need to tell me.

Wait a second...

Is that why she had been acting so weirdly?

Fuck.

It all made sense now.

But... Why?

Had Taylor been trying to set me and Frank up or something?

Did she think I was gay?

Did Frank think I was gay?

...Did everyone?

I then found myself freaking out for a whole other reason.

Had people been talking about me behind my back?

Had rumours been spread about me?

Was I the only one that didn't know I was gay?

But was I?!

Oh God oh God oh God.

My anxiety was getting the better of me.

What the fuck was I going to do now?!

Wait for Lewis and his friends to beat me up again?

Feel ashamed when I told people?

Have my parents feel disappointed about me?

I would probably lose friends.

Because who wants to be friends with a gay guy?

No one.

But... Frank was gay.

Well, kind of.

And no one had given him the cold shoulder.

But then again, Frank was pretty cool.

Maybe being gay wasn't a bad thing.

I had just always seen it as a negative thing because that's what Lewis had lead me to believe.

I guess that was just how things went.

I always listened to other people instead of myself.

Sitting down on the edge of my bed, I thought about all of this.

Was being gay a bad thing?

It's not like you could choose your sexuality.

I think that was what I had been trying to do.

For a long time, I had been lying to myself.

Probably because deep down I knew I was gay and that terrified me.

But there was nothing to be scared of... Right?

What about Lewis?

He honestly really scared me.

Especially after what he had done to me today.

I shivered just thinking about it.

But wait-

What about Frank?

I couldn't believe I had just ran off like that.

What was going through his head now?

I mean, when you kiss someone the last thing you want is them to run away.

...Frank kissed me.

Did that mean he liked me?

But that wasn't possible.

Why would someone as amazing as him like someone like me?

Why would anyone like me?

I was just kidding myself.

Maybe he had kissed me by accident.

Was that even possible?

Perhaps not.

Should I talk to him about it?

God, it would be awkward.

What would I say?

...Did I like him?

I-I think I did.

Fuck.

I needed to tell him.


	15. That Was Unexpected

{Frank's POV}

 

Wait, what the fuck?

Did that just happen?

Did Gerard just run off?

No way was I letting him do that.

I brushed away a few pathetic tears before running out of the alley.

I could just see him running down the road.

Jesus, he was fast.

I wasn't really a fan of running but I guess I didn't really have a choice.

My bag smacked against my leg as I bolted after him.

I knew I wouldn't be able to catch up with him.

Even though I could be fast when I wanted to, he was too far ahead.

He had had a head start.

That was unfair.

I made sure not to let him out of my sight.

Otherwise I'd lose him pretty easily.

After all, I had no idea where he lived.

God, I probably looked like a stalker.

He turned a corner and I somehow managed to sprint round it.

I was not losing him.

We needed to talk now.

It would be way too awkward tomorrow.

He turned another corner and so that meant I did too.

I had never been down these streets before.

I knew they were there but I'd never been down them.

I thought only chavs had lived down here.

Apparently not.

He stopped.

I automatically did too.

He walked down the path of a house.

I watched as he got out his key, unlocked it and slammed it behind him.

Okay.

What now?

I knew where he lived.

I say again: not stalkerish at all...

I needed to talk to him.

What would I say though?

That was the part I hadn't thought through.

Slowly, I walked to the end of the path to his house.

I looked up at the house.

He lived in a semi-detached house.

It looked pretty old just like the rest of the houses down this street.

My house was more modern.

I realised then that I had been looking up at his house for a few minutes.

Not weird at all.

I took a deep breath before striding down the path and stopping in front of the door.

I still had no idea what I would say.

Still, no backing out now.

This had to be done.

I lifted my hand and before I had time to think about it, I knocked.

After about thirty seconds, my impatient ass had to knock again.

And again.

Until the door swung open.

Gerard's eyes widened in shock when he saw me.

Neither of us said anything.

After a moment, he opened his mouth and said quietly, "I thought you were Mikey."

I just shook my head.

"Can I come in?"

He nodded and held the door open for me.

I stepped into the hallway before he shut the door.

"Uh..." It looked like I had really caught him off guard, "Come upstairs... I guess."

I followed him up the stairs and into the first room on the left.

When we were both in, he shut the door and turned to me.

I took off my bag and put it on the floor, my eyes never leaving his face.

He crossed the room and sat down on the bed.

"Sit down if you like."

I took up this offer and sat next to him.

It looked like it was time to talk.

"Gerard-" I started but he cut me off.

"I'm really sorry, Frank. I shouldn't have ran off like that. I was just... I just freaked out that's all."

I nodded, understanding that.

"I suppose I should apologise for kissing you," I looked down, "You were vulnerable. I took advantage. I'm sorry."

He surprised me by saying, "No, Frank. Don't apologise."

I looked back up.

He was frowning at me.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. I'm the one that ran off. I could have handled the situation a bit better."

I half smiled.

"Maybe I little better," I couldn't help but say.

This remark resulted in his face relaxing and a little smile from him too.

"I've been thinking," He said a bit quieter, "I guess I was just shocked because well... I thought I was straight."

Was?

He was straight?

As in he wasn't anymore?

Did that mean...?

"I know it's time to stop lying to myself. I've accepted that. It was hard but I did."

Was he saying what I thought he was saying?

"Gerard..." I didn't know what to say.

He smiled sheepishly at me.

"Someone asked me if I was gay once and of course I denied it. I didn't even think about it. I just straight-up denied it. I've thought about it now. Looking back at it, I don't think I gave the right answer."

Did Gerard just...

"Thank you, Frank, for... For helping me realise and accept myself."

I blinked a few times.

"Uh you're welcome."

I hadn't expected that at all.

We were both quiet again.

Now came the awkward part.

What did this mean for us?

Now that Gerard had accepted his... Sexuality.

I knew what I wanted to say.

"Gerard," I took a deep breath, "I... I like you a lot. You probably already know that though since I uh... Kissed you."

He blushed a little.

Why was he so cute?

"I like you a lot too, Frank," He whispered.

Did he really just say that?

Fucking hell.

I hadn't actually expected him to say it back.

"You do?" I honestly couldn't believe it.

He nodded, "Yeah, I do. Now that I think about it, I do a lot."

Shit.

My heart lifted massively.

There was only one thing I wanted to ask him.

And there was no way I could say it without sounding like a dipshit.

"So uh... Gerard... Will you um... Be my boyfriend?"

God, it sounded so pathetic and cheesy like that.

He blushed again.

"Yes..." His voice was just about audible.

He said yes?

Did he actually?

Fuck.

So um...

Gerard was my boyfriend...?

Gerard was my boyfriend?

Gerard was my boyfriend!

Jesus Christ.

I did not think this would happen when I woke up this morning.

I'm fucking glad it did though.

I shakily placed my hand over his and laced my fingers through his.

He smiled at me and we both slowly leant in.

Our second official kiss.

And it was fucking amazing.

Slow at first but soon we both got into it.

I knew he had never really kissed anyone before so he was nervous.

It was cute that he was inexperienced.

Without speaking, I guided his lips.

After a minute or two, we both pulled away.

"Wow," He breathed.

I grinned at him.

"I know."

That was when we heard the front door downstairs slam.

"That's probably Mikey," Gerard said.

I nodded.

Damn.

I was just starting to enjoy myself.

"What time is it?" I asked.

He checked the clock on his bedside table.

"Nearly four."

Looked like it was time to go.

I stood up.

"I had better go. My mum'll be wondering where I am."

He nodded and stood up too.

I put on my bag and grinned at him.

He was smiling as well.

I don't think either of us could stop.

I knew I definitely couldn't.

I pulled him into a hug that he accepted.

After, we both pulled away a little but leant back in again.

I kissed him softly and slowly.

His eyes were still closed when I pulled away.

"See you tomorrow," I breathed.

His eyes fluttered open and he smiled again, "Okay."

We left his room and went downstairs.

Gerard opened the front door and I was about to exit when Mikey appeared in the lounge doorway.

"Oh hey, Frank. I didn't know you were here."

I smiled at him, "Yeah well it wasn't planned."

I looked at Gee and winked which of course caused him to blush.

"Bye guys," I stepped outside and walked down the path.

When I reached the end of the path, I looked back and waved.

Gerard shyly waved back before shutting the door.

I breathed in the fresh air.

I was on such a high.

This was the best feeling ever.

Gerard and I were finally together.

I had wanted this for weeks.

And it had finally happened.

About fucking time.


	16. Lying

{Gerard's POV}

 

I couldn't stop smiling.

I probably looked like a creepy psychopath.

Especially with the swollen eye.

It hurt like hell but I didn't care anymore.

That was the last thing on my mind.

Who cared about that anymore?

There was only one thing I couldn't get off of my mind.

I... I had a boyfriend.

And not just any boyfriend.

I had Frank... And I couldn't be happier!

Although, I was nervous about tomorrow.

What would people say at school?

Should I tell people or let them find out on their own?

I didn't have the guts to tell anyone.

I'd leave that up to Frank.

Of course, I was scared but for some reason I was okay with people finding out.

I didn't feel ashamed or anything.

This actually surprised me.

But then again, who would be ashamed of going out with Frank Iero?

The answer to that question was no one because Frank was fucking amazing.

I smiled as I thought of him.

I couldn't wait to see him tomorrow.

Would it be awkward between us?

That was what I was thinking about when there was a knock on my bedroom door.

I glanced at it. 

"Yeah?"

The door opened and my mum popped her head round it.

"Hey, Sweetie. I haven't seen much of you tonight."

Same as any other night.

What was so different about tonight?

"Uh yeah, I guess," I shrugged.

She opened the door a bit more.

"Are you okay?"

Why was she choosing today to be an overprotective mum?

I didn't mind but it was a little out of the blue.

"Yeah," I answered.

She frowned at me then and came into the room properly.

"Gerard..." She continued to frown.

"What?" I was confused.

Had I done something wrong?

"What's... What's wrong with your eye?"

Shit.

I had forgotten about that.

My hand automatically went up to my left eye that was still swollen.

I didn't want her to see it.

Although, she probably would.

My mum sat next to me and tried to look at my eye.

"Let me see please, Gerard."

She sounded worried and I knew she wouldn't let this go anytime soon

There was no way I could hide this from her.

I sighed before slowly revealing my eye.

As soon as she saw it, she gasped.

Did it look that bad?

Maybe I should have looked in the mirror...

But my mind had been preoccupied.

My mum touched my eye but pulled away when I flinched.

It was a little sore still.

"How did this happen?!" She demanded.

I looked down.

"Gerard! Tell me now!"

"I uh..."

What could I say?

I couldn't tell her I'd been beaten up.

But I had to say something.

"Gerard, please... Did someone do this to you?"

I couldn't tell her.

She would end up going to the police or school or some shit.

"No, mum. It was just an accident."

She still looked worried.

"What accident? What happened?"

I thought on my feet fast.

"Just an accident in PE. We were playing basketball and I got hit in the face pretty hard. It's honestly fine."

Where did that come from?

I was surprised at myself for how casually I managed to lie.

Her face relaxed a little.

"Are you sure...?"

I nodded.

"Just an accident."

She still seemed unsure but let it go.

"Well... Okay. If you're sure."

"I am, mum. It's fine."

She smiled a little before leaning in and kissing me on the forehead.

Then she stood up and headed to the door.

Thank God for that.

I sighed quietly in relief.

Lying wasn't one of my favourite things especially when it was to my mum.

Still, better than telling the truth.

Before she left the room, she turned back and said, "I was thinking about ordering a takeaway tonight. Mikey suggested Chinese. Is that okay with you?"

I smiled, "Yeah, sure."

She nodded, "Okay. Come on down in a bit and I'll find a menu."

She left.

I hadn't felt this at ease in weeks.

It was nice.

I actually wanted to spend time with my mum and brother, watching some crappy movie and ordering takeout food.

Usually I would hide out in my room but not tonight.

Maybe that was Frank's doing.

He always seemed to lift up my spirits.

Especially after today.

I almost jumped when my phone started ringing.

I picked it up and checked the caller ID.

It was Frank.

Who was he, Beetlejuice?

I smiled as I answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey," I could hear the smile in his voice, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

"I'm fucking amazing."

I laughed a little.

There was a brief silence before he spoke again.

His tone turned more serious, "I just called to um... Make sure that you meant what you said earlier."

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

Had... Had he changed his mind?

"I uh... Did you mean to say yes? You haven't changed your mind have you...?"

What was he saying?

"No... Have you?" I bit my lip.

"Thank God," His voice sounded relieved, "No, I haven't. I'm sorry. I just thought that maybe you'd reconsidered."

Reconsidered?

"Why?" I asked.

He laughed nervously, "I don't know. For some reason I thought maybe you had."

Wow.

He really had a hard time believing that I liked him didn't he?

"I wasn't lying when I said I liked you, Frank."

"Yeah... Okay, good. Sorry. I just... Felt a bit paranoid."

Aw he was cute.

I think that was the first time I had witnessed his confident exterior melt away a little.

"I know how that feels. To be honest I was a bit skeptical that you liked me," I said.

"Well, you couldn't be more wrong, Gerard. Hm... Why don't we just agree that we like each other and we're both pretty certain about it."

"Sounds like a plan," I grinned.

"Good. Uh... Are you nervous about tomorrow?"

"Yeah... A little," I admitted.

"Me too," He agreed, "Let's just stick together. We'll be alright then."

At least it wasn't just me feeling like this.

"Okay. I'll see you at school."

"Yeah okay. Bye, Gerard."

"Bye, Frank."

I waited.

I didn't want to be the first one to hang up.

Although, it sounded like he didn't either.

"Have you hung up?" He suddenly asked after a minute.

"No," I giggled.

"Oh," He laughed too, "Well... Hang up then."

"No. You first."

He laughed again and I joined in.

"Uh... What about at the same time?" He suggested.

"Okay."

We were both silent again.

I started laughing quietly.

"Okay," I could hear the laughter in his voice, "I'll count to three and then we both hang up. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Alright then. One. Two... Three."

I ended the call.

Let's hope he did too.

It would have been a bit awkward if he hadn't...

Although, if one of us hadn't, that call could have gone on for hours.

Not that I would have minded.

I was glad he had called.

It had reassured me about tomorrow.

Everything would be fine.

I just had to stay by Frank.

There was nothing to worry about.


	17. School

{Gerard's POV}

 

I'm not going to lie, I was nervous.

Hell, I was terrified.

I had never been in a relationship so this was a big step for me.

What would people react like?

Especially since I was in a relationship with a guy.

I mean, no one knew I was gay.

I hadn't exactly "come out".

Of course I'd thought about it but I don't think you should stand on a podium and scream, "I'm gay!" at the top of your lungs.

People can find out on their own.

I'm not about to start telling everyone I meet.

It wasn't like everyone had a right to know.

Well, maybe my parents and brother did but I'd get onto that later.

As I walked through the gates to school the next day, I wondered how fast the news would spread.

Maybe no one would care.

Did anyone know yet?

I hadn't told anyone but had Frank?

I wouldn't have minded if he had.

Although, I wouldn't be finding out until break time because I was late arriving that morning.

The bell for form had just sounded and I went to mine.

My first two lessons were Art and German.

That meant I didn't see Frank until break.

I was nervous about that.

Would he kiss me?

Or hug me?

Or would we both be too awkward?

That was usually the case in new relationships.

Wow.

It was still weird to think of it as that.

A relationship.

I slowly walked with Maisie and our friend Carrie to the edge of the playground where the rest of our friends were.

I heard Taylor before I saw her.

"Gerard! You get your ass here right now!"

Oh, God.

She was dancing around and everyone was looking at me.

I couldn't see Frank though.

Although, Taylor pointed him out.

"Frank! You better get here!"

I looked to see Frank walking from the hall.

He smiled at me nervously as we made our way over.

When we got to her, Taylor pulled me into a massive hug.

Maisie and Carrie just watched.

"Oh my fucking God!" Taylor was squealing.

Frank was next to us now.

Taylor let go of me and attacked him in a hug too.

"You guys! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Frank managed to escape from Taylor's grasp and smirked at me.

I blushed a little and smiled at my feet.

"What's going on?" Maisie finally spoke up.

Taylor looked at her.

She probably had only just realised she was there.

Taylor grinned at her and looked at everyone else in the circle.

I was a bit embarrassed since there was about ten people here.

"Gerard and Frank are going out!" She exclaimed in excitement.

There was a pause before everyone started talking at once.

I couldn't really understand what was being said but it looked like Taylor was answering all the questions.

Maisie was staring at me.

I wasn't sure what her expression was but I can tell you, it was the opposite of Taylor's.

"Hey," Frank's voice pulled me away from Maisie's sad face.

I looked at him.

"Sorry, I had to tell Taylor. She kind of scares me."

I laughed a little, "Yeah me too."

Taylor turned back to us, beaming away.

"I said you two would make a cute couple! You're perfect for each other!"

Everyone else was asking if it "really was true" and if we were both "actually gay".

I ignored everyone, not really wishing to speak.

Luckily, Frank came to my rescue by saying, "This isn't a joke and I don't think either of us want to answer any questions so don't bother."

He then pulled me away from the group, to the tree we usually stood under.

"Well," He grinned once we were away, "That could have gone better."

"Yeah," I nodded.

"I suppose it's going to be a shock no matter how we put it," He sighed a little.

Neither of us spoke for a moment.

He was thinking and I didn't want to interrupt him.

I didn't have to wait too long for him to speak again though.

He smiled at me and said, "Hey, I haven't kissed you hello yet."

I blushed as he leant in and his lips touched mine.

Even though my eyes were closed, I could tell all of our friends were watching us.

I felt a bit embarrassed but I honestly didn't care anymore.

I had Frank now.

And I didn't care what anyone thought.

I could've carried on like this for hours.

I was still new to this kissing thing but it was amazing.

However, we were interrupted by a squeal.

We pulled apart to see Taylor standing there.

Jesus, she got on my nerves sometimes.

I looked around her to see Maisie looking at the floor and Carrie had her arm around her.

Was she upset or something?

"You guys! I'm going to pass out from how cute you are!" Taylor squeaked.

"I hope that's a good thing," Frank raised an eyebrow

"It's a very good thing," She reassured him, "Everyone's already talking about you guys."

That caught my attention.

I looked away from Maisie, back to Taylor.

"Everyone?" I whispered.

"Practically. A lot of our year already."

"Oh..." I looked at Frank and bit my lip.

He sensed my distress and laced his fingers through mine.

"It'll be fine, Gerard," He smiled, "It's just a bit of a shock to some people."

"Some people?" Taylor frowned, "More like everyone!"

Everyone?

Oh, God.

Frank shot Taylor an angry look and she understood and said, "But... It's not that much of a big deal. Just people being nosey that's all. It'll all die down after a couple of days."

"Yeah, that's right," Frank agreed.

He stroked the back of my hand with his thumb.

It calmed me down and the worried expression left my face.

That was when I remembered Maisie.

I looked at her.

"I need to speak to Maisie," I told Frank and Taylor.

"What about?" Taylor asked.

I just shook my head, let go of Frank's hand and headed over to Maisie.

She looked up when I stopped in front of her.

"Can I speak to you, Mai?"

She seemed reluctant at first but nodded.

I led her a little away from the group and ran a hand through my hair.

She didn't say anything so I spoke, "Are you okay?"

I could tell she was putting a lot of effort into her smile.

"Yeah, never better."

I doubted that.

Although, I wasn't about to call her a liar.

So I said instead, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Frank. It only happened last night and I'm still getting used to it all-"

"Gee," She cut me off, "It's fine. You guys actually kind of work together."

I smiled a little.

She sighed, "I'm just a little upset that you didn't tell me you were gay."

My smile vanished.

Thinking about it now, maybe I should have told Maisie.

I mean, she was my best friend after all.

I looked down, "I'm sorry. I only found out yesterday."

"It's fine, Gee. Just a shock that's all."

I looked up to see her smiling properly.

"I'm really happy for you, Gee."

She pulled me into a hug.

A real, Maisie hug.

I hadn't had one of those in ages.

It was nice.

When we both pulled away, Frank and Taylor walked over.

Frank immediately curled his fingers through mine and Taylor started beaming away.

I ignored Taylor.

If she was going to be like this all the time, we might have to hide from her sometimes.

Frank smiled at me and started stroking the back of my hand with his thumb like before.

It was really soothing.

"So," Taylor spoke up, "Have you guys told your parents yet?"

I bit my lip.

This was the only thing that had been worrying me.

"My mum and stepdad know I'm bi. Although, they don't exactly believe. I haven't told them about Gerard though," He looked at me.

"Better than me," I sighed, "My parents and brother don't even know I'm gay."

"So you are then?" Taylor piped up.

We all looked at her.

"No," Maisie rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping off of her tongue, "He's one hundred percent straight."

I blushed a little at that.

It was weird to hear comments like that.

"You know what I mean!" Taylor pouted, "I meant, are you fully gay or are you bi like Frank?"

I wasn't too sure.

I looked at Frank. 

He looked interested in this topic as well.

"Uh... I'm not really sure. I think just gay."

That sounded about right.

I had never been interested in girls.

Taylor looked at Maisie and she mouthed something to her.

I couldn't make it out though.

"What is it?" Frank asked.

It looked like he was confused as well.

Taylor looked back at us.

"Nothing," She smiled.

I was interested now but I decided to let it go.

It wasn't that important and I could always ask Maisie later.

Frank had dropped it too. 

He was rubbing his thumb against the back of my hand in a circular motion.

It was nice.


	18. Nosey Shits

{Gerard's POV}

 

"I hate having science last," Maisie moaned.

"Yeah, me too," I agreed.

I was glad it was last lesson though.

Today had been a long day.

As we made our way to the science block, a few glances were thrown my way.

This had been happening all day.

I wasn't sure I like this too much.

I wasn't used to the attention and it was a little unnerving.

Word about me and Frank had spread fast.

Throughout the day, people had been coming up to us to ask if it was true.

I didn't even know half of them.

Frank had said that they were just nosey shits who should mind their own business.

And he wasn't scared to tell them either.

I kind of agreed but I wasn't about to tell them it straight.

Hopefully all this would die down by the end of the week but I doubted it.

What was it with people and gossip?

It was like a drug that they couldn't get enough of.

I didn't really care for it but when it was about me...

I guess I was a bit uncomfortable with the fact that people were talking about me.

I hadn't told Frank my worries but maybe I should.

After all, he was my boyfriend.

I wonder if I could talk to him in science.

Probably not.

We were in the science block now.

Maisie's class was down the corridor and mine was upstairs.

After saying goodbye, I headed up to my class.

Today I had Biology.

I didn't mind Biology because I sat by Frank.

That made the class more bearable.

I was one of the last to make it into the classroom.

People watched me as I made my way to my seat.

It felt like everyone was staring at me.

Just a little creepy.

I felt on show.

Frank smiled at me as I sat down and I returned it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see people whispering and looking at us.

They probably weren't talking about us.

I was just getting paranoid, that's all.

"So you've noticed the staring then?" Frank suddenly said.

I looked up from my book.

"Uh yeah..."

Frank glanced around the room before looking at me again.

"It's kind of getting on my nerves."

"Same," I nodded, not daring to look up at our classmates.

Luckily, the lesson started then and I had something to preoccupy my mind.

I was glad Taylor sat on the other side of the classroom.

That way, she couldn't hassle us.

Although, I had a feeling that it was her who had spread the news about me and Frank.

I wasn't that bothered that it could have possibly been her.

People would find out eventually.

I could have done without the staring though.

Was it that weird?

Maybe.

We had never had a gay couple at our school as far as I could remember.

Not for all the time I've been here anyway.

So I guess it was quite alien.

Hell, even I was still getting used to it.

After a long talk about the heart and it's job, Mrs Harries gave out some sheets and let us get on with them.

I absentmindedly filled out my sheet, waiting to see if Frank would say anything.

"Hey, Gerard?"

I looked up to see the rest of our table looking at me.

That was a bit creepy...

"Yeah...?" I bit my lip.

I already knew what this was about.

"Are..." She seemed hesitant at first, "Is it true that... Are you and Frank actually going out?"

I blushed a little and looked back down at my sheet.

Frank was on alert then.

"What do you think?" He spat.

These questions were really getting on his nerves now.

First, his answers had been polite, but as the day had worn on and we kept getting asked, he had grown more agitated.

The girl who had asked didn't answer.

No one did.

Frank seemed to be having a stare off with all four of them.

After a few minutes, he looked back down at his work and mumbled, "It's true."

I looked back down too.

Whispering had started.

The rest of the lesson passed by in the same sort of way.

A few people from other tables had called over and Frank had snapped at them.

I had kept quiet through the whole affair.

I was beginning to get kind of annoyed now too.

Although, unlike Frank, I didn't say anything.

That wasn't the sort of person I was.

When the bell sounded at the end of the lesson, Frank was out of his chair in a flash and putting his stuff in his bag.

He then waited while I did the same but in a less speedy way.

I didn't see what the rush was.

When I was ready, he grabbed my hand and practically dragged me out of the room.

He didn't stop his speed-walking until we reached the playground.

"Are you okay...?" I asked when he had stopped walking.

He let go of my hand and looked at me.

"Just a little pissed that's all."

I nodded.

"I understand. I'm beginning to get a little hacked off too."

"It's just really getting on my fucking nerves! Why can't people mind their own flaming business?!"

"Yeah I know," I sighed.

I hadn't realised how much this had bothered him.

And I thought I had been overreacting.

"Even now!" He gestured around us, "People are still staring!"

I looked around to see he was right.

Was there no where we could go?

"Look, Gerard," He calmed his voice a little, "It's not that I'm ashamed to be with you or anything. It's just that... I hate being treated like I'm different. I'm not a freak and neither are you."

"Who said anything about being freaks?" I frowned.

He shook his head and sighed, "What I mean is... If one of us was a girl... Would people be staring then?"

I thought about that.

No one would stare.

"No..." I bit my lip.

He ran a hand through his hair.

"That's what gets me the most. But I guess... It'll always be like this, wherever we go. We'll just have to get used to it."

I didn't really want to get used to it but I knew he was right.

"Maybe it'll die down a little," I thought out loud.

He shrugged a little, "Over time... Yeah, maybe. We'll just have to wait and see I guess."

I nodded, thinking about this.

Although, it looked like our conversation had ended.

Taylor draped an arm around my shoulders and an arm around Frank's.

"Hey, guys!" She grinned.

Frank narrowed his eyes a little but returned her smile.

"So, how did your first day as a couple go?"

Frank looked at me and smiled.

"If you put aside the constant staring and ignorant questions... Pretty good," Frank replied.

I blushed a little.

He was right.

"Yeah, I enjoyed it," I agreed.

Taylor looked like she was holding in an internal squeal.

"You guys really do work together," She let go of us, "I've had a few people come up to me today and say that you guys make a great couple."

That was surprising, all things considered.

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," She nodded, "And I agree with them. It was about time you guys got together."

Frank grinned, "You've got that right. My charm payed off."

I could help but laugh at that.

"Charm? What charm?" I smirked.

He managed to stop a massive grin from spreading across his face.

"The charm that won you over of course. You just couldn't resist me obviously."

Another giggle escaped my lips, "Sure, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

His smile appeared then.

"You know it's true," He sneered.

I shook my head.

"Nope."

"Yep."

"You're full of crap," I laughed.

"Maybe so," He fixed his tie, "But I'm not the one who can't keep his hands off of me."

I shook my head again, still grinning.

"Is that supposed to be me then?" I asked, "Because I'm pretty sure that you're the one who can't keep his hands off of me."

"No way. You must have me mixed up with someone else."

"Sure," I said, "One of my many other boyfriends."

He looked at me again, "Wait, what?"

"Nothing," I smiled sweetly and batted my lashes.

He smirked at me before pecking me quickly on the lips.

"Jesus Christ, you guys!" Taylor pulled us both back to Earth.

I'd forgotten she was there...

"What?" Frank asked innocently.

She just shook her head and said, "You really belong together. I gotta go. See ya!"

After hugging us both, she skipped off.

When she was across the playground, I looked back at Frank.

He beamed at me and held out his hand.

I laced my fingers though his and we started walking towards the usual gate.

"So," He said as we walked, "Do you think tomorrow will be any better? Or do you think word would have spread even more?"

"I hope it'll be better. But you're probably right. A lot of gossip can happen overnight," I sighed.

We had reached the gate.

We stopped and he faced me.

"Don't worry too much about it," He pulled me into a hug, "Soon things will be back to normal... Well as normal as it can get."

I nodded against his shoulder.

We both pulled away but leant back in again.

My eyes closed as soon as his lips touched mine.

This was still such a weird experience.

Amazing though.

I could honestly do it all day.

Frank probably could too from the way his lips brushed against mine.

Since we were at school though, we couldn't exactly go into a full make out session, much to my disappointment.

After we both pulled away again, he smiled at me and said, "See you tomorrow. I'll call you later."

I nodded and smiled back, "Okay. See you tomorrow."

He started walking down the road, sending one last grin over his shoulder.

I started my walk home and was surprised to find I wasn't hassled by Lewis and his crew.

Maybe Frank had scared them away yesterday.

That was too good to be true though.

I knew they'd be back.

They always were.

For now though, I would make the most of this freedom.

It was definitely what I needed.

The hassling at school had been enough for one day.

Still, I would take all the hassling in the world if meant that I could be with Frank.

It was worth it.


	19. Worrying

{Gerard's POV}

 

This was still so surreal.

Would I ever get used to this?

I guess I had yet to find out.

The thing that worried me the most was Mikey and my mum finding out.

I wasn't exactly sure why.

It wasn't that I was ashamed of being with Frank or anything.

Maybe I was still a little skeptical about the fact I was gay.

I mean, for so long I was under the impression it was a negative thing thanks to Lewis.

I liked Frank and everything and I definitely knew I was gay now.

It was just... I don't know.

I guess I was just worried what they'd think.

And plus I wanted to tell them myself when I was ready.

Mikey was the biggest worry.

Since he went to my school, there was a big chance he had heard the rumours about me and Frank.

And of course they weren't just rumours, they were true.

During that first week, I was worried Mikey would ask me about it randomly one evening.

He hadn't.

I mean, he hadn't exactly talked to me much either though.

But that didn't mean he didn't know anything.

Maybe he was ashamed.

Maybe he was disgusted.

Maybe he didn't want to talk to me again.

Maybe he wanted to quit the band.

...I was reading far too much into this.

But that was what I was thinking while we waited for Mikey to show up for band practice that Friday.

A small part of me thought he wouldn't turn up for some reason.

I had told Frank to keep the relationship stuff low key around Mikey.

Being the nice guy he was, Frank understood.

I hadn't told him my thoughts on Mikey though.

Do you have to tell the other person practically everything when you're in a relationship?

I'd never been in one so I didn't know.

I think you had to.

But that was because you trusted them a lot not just because you had to.

And I knew I trusted Frank.

So maybe I should tell him.

Yeah, okay.

He was playing some random chords on his guitar when I decided to say what was worrying me.

"Do you think he'll show up...?"

I know I was a bit hasty to worry since I had only arrived five minutes ago, but I couldn't help myself.

Frank stopped playing and looked at me.

"What? Mikey? Of course he will. Why wouldn't he?" He frowned.

I shrugged, "I don't know..."

Frank put down his guitar and sat on the table next to me.

"What's wrong, Gerard?"

Some days he could read me like a book.

Did I wear my heart on my sleeve or something?

That meant I couldn't exactly deny anything.

So I guess it was time to tell him.

I wasn't sure how to word it without sounding paranoid though.

"I uh... Mikey hasn't really spoken to me this week."

I still didn't know what that meant.

Was it a bad thing?

Frank tried to smile reassuringly, "I'm sure it's nothing. Just teenage stuff. How old is he?"

"Fifteen."

"There you go then. Just teenage boy stuff. We can't really talk. We're not even sixteen yet."

I nodded, looking at my feet.

Maybe he was right.

I mean, hormones and shit, right?

That would explain it.

Neither of us spoke for a minute until Frank asked, "Do you... Do you think he knows about us?"

I looked at him and bit my lip.

Looked like he had worried about that too.

At least I wasn't alone on that one.

"I'm not sure. A lot of people have been talking about us."

Frank raked a hand through his hair, "Yeah, I know."

I didn't say anything.

I knew there was a big chance Mikey had found out.

But there was also a chance he hadn't.

Until he showed up though, we wouldn't know.

Frank stood up again and picked up his guitar.

He looked it over before placing the strap over his head.

"So," He stroked his pride and glory, "Do you think I should name her?"

"What?" His change in subject had caught me off guard.

"My baby here," He strummed a little, "Do you think I should give her a name?"

"A name?"

He nodded.

I thought for a second.

"What kind of name?"

"Well," He looked at his guitar, "She needs a girls name of course."

"It's a girl?" I smirked.

He looked at me as if it were obvious, "Of course."

I had another think.

I'd never had any pets so I'd never had anything to name before.

"You should be the one to name her. Since she's your guitar and everything."

"Yeah, you're right."

He examined the instrument for another few minutes before looking at the ceiling, deep in thought.

I watched him with fascination.

"I got it!" He suddenly burst which resulted in me almost falling off the table.

"What?" I asked, now intrigued.

He stood back next to me, "Don't you think... She looks like a... Pansy!"

I raised an eyebrow, "Pansy? Why Pansy?"

"I like flowers, okay?" He smirked, "Plus, it's a funny word."

I smiled at him.

"Pansy it is then."

He grinned, "Awesome."

He was so cute.

I was really lucky to have him.

"Am I interrupting?" A voice suddenly called out.

Frank and I looked from each other to the door.

Mikey was standing there awkwardly, his bass case in his hand.

"Not at all. It's about time," Frank grinned.

Mikey smiled a little and walked over to us.

"Ready to practice?" Frank started strumming the intro to our song with no name.

Mikey took off his school bag and placed the case on the table next to me.

"I'm always ready," He mumbled as he took his bass out of it's case.

I didn't say anything.

I wanted to know if he knew about us.

I think Frank was a little anxious too but he was hiding it behind his guitar.

"Uh, Guys?" I got their attention.

Frank stopped strumming and looked at me.

Mikey glanced at me before looking back down at his bass.

"I've um... I've started playing around with some lyrics for another song."

Frank's eyes widened, "You've written another song already?"

I shook my head, "Not properly. It's not ready to be heard yet. I've just started it. I thought you should know."

"Fuck yeah!"

In his excitement, Frank started started playing something really complicated on Pansy.

How did he do that?

He was so amazingly talented.

Mikey had his bass over his shoulder now and was watching Frank like me.

"Are we gonna do this or what?" Mikey said when Frank had finished.

"What? Oh, sorry," Frank smiled embarrassingly.

I found myself clapping.

Frank looked at me and grinned.

"Thank you! Thank you! I'm here all week," He winked at me.

I blushed a little.

Frank started strumming the chorus before stopping and saying, "Guys, I think we need another guitar."

Mikey frowned, "What do you mean?"

"This song would sound a lot better with two guitar parts."

"So are you planning on playing two guitars at once then?" Mikey smirked.

Frank rolled his eyes, "No, no. We need another guitarist."

Another guitarist?

I'd never thought of having more people in our band.

Now that I thought about it, I guess that a three person band is pretty small.

I mean, we didn't even have a drummer yet.

It was still early days though.

"I don't really know anyone as good as you though," I said.

He smirked at me, "You flatter me, Mr Way. But yeah, I don't really know anyone either."

We both looked at Mikey.

He shrugged, "Don't look at me."

Frank's face dropped a little.

"Maybe we could enquire in music. Also, in the BTEC class," I suggested, trying to cheer Frank up.

"Yeah, okay," He smiled again.

Frank was never in a bad mood for too long.

It was one of the things I really liked about him.

"For now though," Mikey plugged his bass into a nearby amp, "Let's just stick with what we've got."

I nodded and stood up.

Frank had already plugged in a microphone and handed it to me.

I hesitantly took it out of his hand and looked it over.

I still hadn't sung in front of Mikey and I wasn't sure I wanted to yet.

Mikey watched me as I stared at the microphone before rethinking and placing it on the table.

Mikey sighed but I knew he had been expecting it.

Frank looked up, saw why Mikey was annoyed and smiled a sad smile.

"Sorry," I mumbled and sat back down.

"It's okay, Gerard," Frank patted me on the shoulder.

I still felt bad though.

Would I ever be confident enough to sing in front of everyone if I couldn't even sing in front of my brother?

I hoped so.

I didn't want to let Frank down.

He didn't deserve that.

But until then, it looked like I was just watching.


	20. Bullshit Movies

{Gerard's POV}

 

"Gerard! There's someone at the door for you!"

I jumped up off of my bed.

He was early.

Not that I minded.

After checking my appearance quickly in the bathroom mirror, I jogged down the stairs.

My mum was standing next to the open front door.

She smiled when she saw me and I returned it.

"Hey."

My eyes darted towards Frank.

He grinned at me.

"Hi," I smiled at my feet.

I still got a little nervous around him.

"Gerard? Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

I looked back up to see my mum looking from me to Frank and back to me again.

"Uh yeah. Mum, this is um my friend Frank."

I didn't like calling him just my friend but this wasn't the best time to tell my mum about us.

"Nice to meet you, Frank," My mum smiled at him.

He smiled back and said, "You too, Mrs Way."

Wow, he was polite.

I noticed Mikey then.

He was standing against the lounge door.

How long had he been there...?

"Alright, Frank?" He nodded.

"Yeah. You?" Frank replied, smiling.

"Yeah, fine."

Mikey then looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

What was that look supposed to mean?

"What?" I frowned.

He merely shook his head a little before going back into the lounge.

Well that was weird.

"What time will you be back?" My mum asked, regaining my attention.

"Not sure. Call me if you need me," I shoved on my Converse and hoodie.

"Okay."

Frank smiled at my mum and said, "Bye," before walking down the path.

"Bye, boys. Have a good time," My mum beamed.

"Bye, mum," I followed Frank down the path.

I heard the front door shut behind me.

We walked in silence to the end of the road.

As soon as we turned the corner, Frank grabbed my hand and pulled me into him.

The sudden contact surprised me.

He wrapped his arms around me and said, "Can I say hi properly now?"

I nodded, not able to find words.

He smiled before his lips pressed against mine.

...Fuck.

My eyes were already closed and my heart was beating hard against my chest.

After a moment, he pulled away.

Slowly, my eyes opened to see him smiling at me.

"Hi," He grinned.

"H-Hi," I managed to find my voice.

"I feel better now."

"Yeah?" I smirked.

He nodded and let go of me.

Although, the lack of touch didn't last for long.

He laced his fingers through mine and we started walking again.

I sighed in contentment.

I definitely preferred these weekends to the ones where I just sat in my room for two days.

It was nice.

Frank made everything better.

Although, it wasn't just us two today.

Taylor and a couple of other friends had asked us if we wanted to go to the cinema with them.

Of course we agreed.

We were meeting up anyway so why not?

I hadn't been to the cinema in months.

I liked it and everything but it was just that I never had anyone to go with.

Just like Frank had never had anyone to meet up with.

We were kind of the same in that way.

Still, we had each other now.

I wasn't sure what we were watching but I didn't care.

As long as I was with Frank, we could be seeing the crappiest film on Earth and I wouldn't care.

The walk to the cinema wasn't too long and we didn't run out of anything to talk about.

We mainly talked about the new song I had been writing.

Frank kept asking me what it was about but I was too embarrassed to tell him.

After all, it was about him.

I'd tell him one day... Maybe.

For now though, I'd keep it to myself.

I still wasn't sure whether I liked it or not.

We were the first to arrive at the cinema which wasn't surprising since we were early.

For ten or so minutes we just stood outside awkwardly.

Of course our conversation continued.

Frank's pestering didn't subside but I still didn't give in.

I wasn't sure how he'd react.

Luckily, our conversation was interrupted by Taylor and Carrie arriving.

"Hey, guys!" Taylor attacked us both in one huge hug.

"Hey," Frank managed to say while being squashed.

"You guys okay?" Carrie asked.

"Yeah, uh fine," I tried to escape Taylor's grasp.

She let go then.

"Good! So Michelle and Dan have gone off to do coupley shit. Ugh. I hate couples. They're too happy," Taylor moaned.

I glanced at Frank and he smirked at me.

Well this was awkward...

Taylor noticed.

"Not that I hate you guys or anything! Just... Yeah... Anyway, Maisie isn't coming either."

I frowned, "Why not?"

Taylor shrugged and looked at Carrie.

I did too.

"She said she 'wasn't up for it'. Whatever that means," Carrie said.

"Oh um okay," I looked at my feet.

This hadn't been the first time she didn't want to meet up.

Was it my fault?

Had I done something wrong?

Frank squeezed my hand.

"So it looks like it's just the four of us!" Taylor perked up again, "Come on then. It's starting in fifteen minutes."

She and Carrie headed into the cinema.

I was about to follow them when Frank pulled me back a little.

I looked at him, wondering what was up.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

He bit his lip, "You just seemed kind of down about the fact Maisie hadn't shown up."

I scuffed the floor a little with my shoe.

"Yeah... It's just that..." I wasn't sure how to explain it.

"What is it, Gerard?"

His eyes were full of concern.

It was nice that he cared.

"I feel as if we're drifting away a little, Maisie and I, and I don't know why. I don't know... I just kind of feel like she's trying to avoid me."

I looked down again.

Frank lifted my chin back up with his index finger.

"I'm sure she isn't. Just don't worry too much about it. Everything will be normal again soon. Things probably feel a little different because of well... Of us. You might still be adjusting to this. Hell, even I'm still getting used to it."

I nodded.

He was right and I knew it.

It was just because this was all still way over my head.

Maisie wasn't avoiding me.

I was just spending more time with Frank that was all.

Maybe I should make more of an effort to hang out with her.

"Come on then," Frank nodded towards the entrance, "The movie will be starting soon."

He smiled and I returned it before we headed inside.

I didn't really pay much attention to the film.

It was a chick flick Taylor had chosen.

I didn't mind those kind of films but they all seemed to be the same.

And this one was particularly cliché.

Frank seemed kind of bored too.

I was relying on the film being good because Taylor had said I would've like it.

I'm not sure why she had thought that.

Just because I was gay didn't mean I liked cheesy, girly films.

Taylor wasn't being stereotypical at all...

Whatever.

I wasn't that bothered.

Throughout the film, Frank and I just held hands and tapped the back of each other's in turn.

Kind of like a morse code but neither of us knew morse code so it wasn't exactly a message.

Just a gentle tapping to let each other know we were still there.

When the film eventually finished, we couldn't get out of there fast enough.

We didn't even wait for the girls until we were outside again.

Once we were, Frank started laughing.

"What a load of bullshit," He scoffed.

"I know," I agreed, "It was really unrealistic."

He nodded, "Bullshit."

Taylor and Carrie had caught up with us then.

"There you are!" Taylor was saying, "Why'd you guys run off so quickly?"

Frank and I looked at each other and smirked.

"Because that movie slowly drained the life out of both of us. Next time, choose something five hundred per cent more decent," Frank replied.

Taylor raised an eyebrow, "So you didn't like it then?"

"Really?" The sarcasm dripped heavily off of his tongue, "Where'd you get that idea?"

Taylor rolled her eyes before looking at me.

"Didn't you like it, Gee?" She asked.

I slowly shook my head and said, "I'll never get those two hours back."

That sounded a little rude but it was true.

Taylor narrowed her eyes at us both, "Whatever. You guys obviously have no taste when it comes to movies."

Frank almost choked on his bottle of lemonade, "You what? If anything, YOU have no taste, choosing that piece of shit."

Taylor was getting annoyed now.

She didn't like it when people disagreed with her.

"It wasn't shit. It had George Clooney in it."

"Ooh! George Clooney! The whole movie is automatically made of gold because George Clooney's in it!" I could tell Frank was beginning to get pissed off as well now.

This wasn't going too well.

"Guys," I tried to restore some peace, "It was just a movie. Who cares?"

"I care!" Taylor shot daggers at me.

Okay...

Looked like it was time to go.

"Uh okay... I think Frank and I are going to go now... See you guys on Monday."

"Bye," Carrie smiled awkwardly.

I felt a bit sorry for her, leaving her with Taylor.

Frank was happy to go and started walking, not even saying goodbye.

I sent one last small smile at the girls before chasing after him.

It wasn't until we were down the street that he spoke, "Why does she always have to have the last word? The movie was shit. Just deal with it."

I didn't say anything.

"She can be a right bitch when she wants to," Frank slowed down a little so I could catch up.

"Yeah, sometimes."

We carried on walking in silence until we reached the bus station where Frank caught the bus to his house.

"Hey," He looked at me when we stopped outside, "I'm sorry. I guess I overreacted a little. It's just that Taylor can really get on my fucking nerves sometimes."

I nodded, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

He smiled then which relaxed me.

That had been the longest time I had seen him without a smile on his face and I didn't like it.

"I'll see you on Monday then," He moved closer to me.

I nodded, the breath catching in my throat.

His smile grew before he brushed his lips lightly against mine.

I think I died then and went to heaven.

Why was he so perfect?

After a minute or so, he pulled away.

My eyes slowly opened to see him smiling at me again.

"Bye."

"Bye," I breathed.

He sent me another smile over his shoulder as he walked into the station.

It took me a moment to remember what was happening and to recompose myself.

I then started walking home.

A massive smile had spread across my face and I couldn't seem get rid of it.

That was until I heard a familiar voice, "Well, well, well. Who's this? Is this our little gayboy? Long time no see."

I froze in my tracks, my smile vanishing.

Slowly, I dared myself to turn around.

Lewis and his cronies were grinning at me.

It had almost been a week since I had last had the um... Pleasure of seeing them.

I had actually begun to think they weren't going to pester me again but I knew it was too good to be true.

I sighed silently.

"Miss us?" Lewis's eyes sparkled.

I didn't speak.

Of course I hadn't missed them.

No one in their right mind would.

I wasn't going to say that though.

His smile still creeped me out a little...

Was he going to hurt me again?

I doubted Frank could come to my rescue this time.

He was probably on a bus somewhere on the way home.

"We saw you with your boyfriend. No use denying it."

Shit.

I guess that was the only thing that had changed since I had last seen them.

I was with Frank now.

So that meant I couldn't really say anything different anymore.

"We saw him kiss you. How sweet. Sweet and gross."

Lewis' friends sniggered a little.

I could feel myself shrink down into the earth.

What I wouldn't give to have the ground swallow me up at that moment.

"Not saying much today?" Lewis raised an eyebrow.

I managed to shake my head.

"Do you just want to go home?"

I nodded.

Pathetic, I know, but I didn't know what else to do.

"Poor baby," Lewis fake simpered, "You know what? I'll let you get home to your mummy today since I'm having a good time hanging around town with my mates. Catch you next time, gayboy."

Was he serious?

He was letting me go?

There had to be some sort of catch.

Lewis grinned at me menacingly before turning away and walking down the road with his followers at his heels.

Thank God for that.

I really didn't have the energy for one of those meetings.

I span on my heel and walked at a fast pace until I was at my front door.

That was when I realised how out of breath I was.

I was just shutting the door behind me when I heard my phone ringing.

Of course I already knew who it was when I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Frank's smile was audible, "You get home okay?"

"Literally just walked through the door. Did you?"

"Yeah, same."

I was glad Frank had called at that time because it made me forget about my run in with Lewis.

Frank really was my favourite person ever.

I spent most of the evening on the phone to him and didn't remember what had happened until the next morning.

The memory wasn't welcome but at least I hadn't spent all night thinking about it.

Frank had managed to calm me down without either of us realising it.

I say again: he really was my favourite person ever.


	21. A New Friend?

{Gerard's POV}

 

"I'm sure you're just being paranoid," Frank said.

"Maybe," I bit my lip, "But Mikey's definitely been acting weird lately."

"I'm sure he isn't. He probably seems like he is because that's what you're expecting."

He was right.

I was overreacting.

I needed to stop worrying.

We stopped walking once we were outside the music block.

"Hey," Frank smiled at me, "Everything's fine. Don't worry so much."

I nodded.

"Now," Frank opened the door, "Let's go and fucking rock out!"

I laughed and followed him upstairs to our classroom.

However, we paused when we reached the top of the stairs.

Frank frowned, "Can you hear that?"

"Kind of."

We both shuffled slowly towards our classroom and stopped outside.

I could definitely hear something now.

If I wasn't mistaken, someone was playing an electric.

Really well, I might add.

Frank had his mouth open as he listened to the impressive sounds.

"Who the fuck is that?" He half whispered.

I shrugged, "No idea."

Curiosity compelled him then.

He slowly opened the classroom door and we both peeked our heads round it.

A guy was standing with his back to us and he had a pretty nice looking guitar in his arms.

From what I could see anyway.

I tried hard to recognise him but as I couldn't see his face, no one came to mind.

For a minute or so we just watched him play.

He really was amazing.

Just as good as Frank

Maybe even better.

We pushed the door open properly and stood in the doorway.

The guy didn't notice; he just kept rocking out.

I wondered what year he was in.

He was pretty tall so maybe in our year.

As soon as he stopped playing, Frank started clapping and I joined in.

The guy spun around in surprise and blushed a little when he saw us.

Now that I had seen his face, I definitely knew him from somewhere.

I must have seen him around the school.

"Wow, man!" Frank was grinning, "You're amazing!"

"Uh thanks..." The guy took the guitar from his shoulder and placed it in a nearby case.

"I'm serious!" Frank was saying, "You've got some talent!"

The guy looked a little awkward at being complimented but smiled anyway.

He was tall.

Taller than me but that wasn't too hard.

He had brown, bushy hair which was pretty cool.

I kind of remembered him so he must be in our year.

"What's your name?" Frank and I walked into the room.

"Um Ray."

"I like you, Ray," Frank leant against one of the tables.

Ray raised an eyebrow, "You do?"

"Yeah."

"But you don't even know me."

Frank shrugged, "You're amazing on the guitar. What's not to like?"

Ray looked at his feet and smiled.

Frank remembered me then.

"Oh yeah," He sat up, "I'm Frank by the way and this is Gerard."

Ray looked up again, "I know who you guys are. I've been told loads."

I bit my lip, "You have...?"

"Yeah. I'm not one for gossip but that doesn't stop people from telling me."

Frank's smile had vanished, "So you know about us then?"

Ray nodded, "Yeah. It's been what, two weeks? And people are still talking about you guys."

That wasn't surprising.

Sighing, I slumped down into a chair.

Frank looked at me and smiled reassuringly.

"Well, I think it's awesome."

I looked up to see Ray smiling at us.

"I've seen you guys around school and you make a pretty sweet couple."

I blushed then.

"Thanks..." I mumbled.

Frank was standing next to me and I felt his hand on my shoulder.

I looked up at him.

He looked down and winked before looking over at Ray again.

Ray was putting on his school bag and picking up his guitar case.

"Woah, hey, hold up a minute," Frank jumped out in front of him.

Ray stopped and waited to see what Frank was going to say.

I watched him too.

"Do you have to go right this minute or can you stay for like ten minutes?"

Ray thought for a minute before saying, "Sure, I've got some time."

An excited look overtook Frank's face.

He threw off his school bag, said, "I'll be back in a sec!" and bolted from the room.

I slowly stood up and leant against a table.

Ray had put back down his case and taken off his school bag.

"So um do you take music?" I asked.

"Yeah, BTEC."

"Oh."

That explained why I hadn't heard him play before.

He was in the other class.

"Frank and I take GCSE."

Ray nodded, "I thought about taking GCSE but I like the theory just as much as the performing so I took BTEC instead."

Frank was back then and he was carrying Pansy.

Oh yeah.

He always left her in one of the rehearsal rooms at the start of the day every Friday.

Saved lugging her around all day.

I could tell Frank was excited although I had no idea why.

Ray and I watched with curiosity as Frank took Pansy out of her case and plugged her in.

Once she was over his shoulder and he had a pick in his hand, he turned back to Ray.

"Okay," Frank checked the tuning a little, "Can you listen and interpret?"

"Uh yeah sure," Ray took his guitar back out and plugged it in.

When he was ready, he looked at Frank expectantly.

I climbed onto the table and sat on it, crossing my legs.

This was interesting.

Frank started playing the intro to our song.

I could tell Ray was watching carefully.

Frank stopped halfway through the intro and said, "Do you think you could play that?"

Ray played it through in his head before having a go himself.

His first attempt was slower than the original and there was a couple or mistakes but when he played it the second time, it was perfect.

Frank grinned before playing the rest of the intro.

Fifteen minutes later, Ray could play the whole song from start to finish.

"Wow," He beamed, "What song is that? The riffs are amazing!"

Frank looked at me and grinned before saying, "It's our song. I wrote the guitar part myself."

Ray's eyes widened, "Are you serious?"

Frank nodded with pride, "Yep!"

Ray smiled at Frank and then a serious look overtook his face.

"Have you only written the one guitar part?"

Frank leant on the table I was sitting on, "Yeah. I thought about writing another part but we didn't have anyone to play it."

Ray perked up, "I can help you write it if you'd like?"

Frank looked at me.

There was a glint of something in his eyes.

I knew what it meant and I nodded.

Frank looked even more excited and he turned back to Ray.

"Well," He tried to contain his excitement, "If you help write it, it only seems fair you should play it."

Ray stood up a little straighter, "What are you saying?"

I was sure Frank was going to burst from excitement.

"Ray, would you like to join our band?"

Ray's eyes lit up, "So you guys are actually in a band? You're serious about this?"

"Hell yeah we are!" Frank beamed, "And we want you to join!"

Ray thought for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, okay then. I'll join!"

Frank looked overjoyed.

I was feeling pretty excited as well now.

Although, we didn't get a chance to celebrate.

"Sorry I'm late, I forgot I had a detention..."

Mikey stopped in his tracks when he saw us.

"Who's this?"

Frank was practically jumping up and down, "Mikey! This is Ray! He's joining the band!"

Mikey raised an eyebrow, "He is? And you didn't think to ask me?"

Oh... Right...

That would have been a good idea.

I bit my lip, "Sorry, Mikes. But he really is good. And Frank was saying we could do with another guitarist."

Mikey didn't say anything.

He looked Ray up and down before shrugging.

"As long as he doesn't play bass."

He then took off his bass case that was on his shoulder and his school bag.

"Ray, this is Gerard's brother, Mikey," Frank introduced, "Mikey, this is Ray. He's in our year and he's fucking amazing on the guitar!"

Mikey looked at Ray again.

Ray smiled sheepishly, "Hi."

"Hey," Mikey nodded before looking back down at his bass.

That was probably the most Ray would get out of him.

"Okay, so," Frank took charge, "Ray and I are going to sort out the second guitar part. Mikey, do you just wanna practice your part?"

Mikey had his bass out and he nodded.

"And, Gee," Frank bit his lip.

I sighed.

"I'll just work on lyrics for the other song," I got out my lyric book.

Ray frowned, "Um what do you do?"

"Gerard does nothing," Mikey muttered.

"No," Frank counteracted, "Gerard sings and he's really fucking good."

I blushed a little at that remark.

"I'll believe that when it happens," Mikey said.

Ray looked even more confused so I said, "I haven't really sang in front of anyone apart from Frank before."

"Oh."

I looked down.

"Don't worry about it, Gee," Frank caught my attention, "Sing when you're ready. I know you'll be able to one day."

"It would be good though if that 'one day' was today," Mikey plugged in his bass.

"Okay, Mikes," I rolled my eyes.

I grabbed my pen out of my pocket and opened to the last page I had been writing on.

I had only written the first verse.

It was a little weird but I liked it.

"Hey, um," Ray caught all of our attention, "Can I go call my mum real quick? Just to tell her I'll be back a little later than usual."

"Yeah, go ahead," Frank nodded.

Ray smiled before grabbing his phone, putting his guitar down and leaving the room.

When he was gone, Mikey spoke up, "So yeah cheers, guys."

"What?" Frank frowned.

"Just remember that I'm apart of this band too so that means I get a say in who joins."

"Don't you like Ray?" I asked.

"I don't really know him," Mikey shrugged.

"Well, neither do we," I replied.

"Exactly," Mikey nodded, "We don't know what he's like. Maybe he's really controlling. Maybe he'll steal our songs. Who knows?"

"I doubt that," Frank smirked, "He seems like a nice guy."

"Yeah, 'seems'. What's he really like though?"

"Leave it out, Mikes," I sighed, "Once you get to know him, I'm sure you'll like him."

Mikey merely shrugged in response before playing the chorus on his bass.

Ray came back into the room then.

"My mum said I can stay for a bit."

"Awesome," Frank smiled as he strummed out a tune without even thinking about it.

For ten or so minutes, we worked in silence.

Apart from the occasional comment from Frank or Ray about something or other.

Mikey stayed quiet, focussing on his instrument.

I managed to write a few more lines but I didn't really have any inspiration at that moment.

"Hey," Ray suddenly spoke, "Has anyone got that new game, Destiny, on the PS4?"

Mikey's head snapped up in such a sharp motion, it made me jump.

"I do," He replied.

Ray looked at him and smiled, "What do you think?"

"Fucking amazing," Mikey smiled a little, "I'm totally addicted."

"Same," Ray agreed.

"You lucky sods with your PS4s. I only have a PS3 but I hardly play on it," Frank said.

"I don't even have that," I laughed.

Ray's eyes widened.

"Do you have an XBOX?"

I shook my head.

"How do you live?!" Ray looked horrified.

"I know!" Mikey joined in, "I can't even make it through a day without playing something. So how can you live without a console?"

This was amusing me.

I shrugged, "I just don't like video games that much."

Ray gasped.

"You see what I have to live with?" Mikey pointed at me.

"I feel so sorry for you," Ray replied.

Frank looked from Ray to Mikey and smirked.

"Well," He laughed a little, "I hate to break up this little nerd fest but it's half four."

"Really?" Mikey frowned, "Already?"

Wow, that had come around fast.

"Yep," Frank nodded, "Time to go home."

Five minutes later, we all walked out of the music block together.

Mikey and Ray talked about a video game as we walked to and stopped at the gate.

"Same time as usual next week then?" Frank smiled.

All three of us nodded.

After Frank had given me a hug that made it look like we were 'just friends', he walked his usual way with Ray.

Mikey and I started down across the road.

"Okay," Mikey said after a minute of walking, "That Ray guy's pretty cool."

I smiled at him, "I'm glad you think so."

"Yeah," Mikey nodded.

He didn't say anything else but I knew he was glad we had asked Ray to join the band.

We were all pretty glad to be honest.


	22. A Proposal

{Gerard's POV}

 

Being in a relationship is definitely different to being single.

By a long shot.

I had always thought that there was never really anything amazing about being in a relationship.

It was just that you had someone to talk to and have intimate moments with.

That's why I had never really been that bothered about being single.

How wrong was I?

Really wrong.

Frank wasn't just someone to talk to and have intimate moments with.

Sure, we talked and shared some intimate moments, but that wasn't all.

The way I felt about Frank... I had never felt that way about anyone else before.

And this feeling was getting stronger every day.

Frank seemed to be the reason I got up in the morning.

He was the only person who could really make me smile.

Just his voice made me feel a hundred times better.

And seeing him play his guitar just... He was so amazing.

That was why I was in a good mood that Monday morning.

Music first.

Music with Frank.

In fact, I was in such an eager mood, I left my house a whole two minutes early.

I had been late a few days last week so that had meant I didn't get to see Frank in the morning before school started.

This was the reason I had made sure I left with time to spare.

I wanted to see him.

The walk to school was the same as usual.

Listening to music, head down, hands in pockets.

This was until I reached the alley.

I was about to pass it when I saw them.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Lewis and his friends were standing right inside it.

They grinned and Lewis waved.

I had never seen them this early before.

Never before school.

What did this mean?

It didn't look like they wanted to have a chat or anything like that.

They just watched me as I passed them.

That was a little creepy, I have to say.

I was still thinking about it when I reached the school gates.

What were they planning?

Luckily, I saw Frank then which meant I more or less forgot about Lewis and his friends straight away.

Frank grinned when he saw me.

I walked up to him and he pulled me into a hug when I was next to him.

"Morning," He pulled away.

"Morning," I smiled.

He then leant back in and brushed his lips against mine.

After a moment or two, he pulled away again.

I blushed, vaguely aware that our friends were standing near us.

The bell went then.

I guess I wasn't as early as I had originally thought.

Frank's face dropped a little.

"I'll see you in music," He pecked me quickly on the lips before walking to form with Taylor and Michelle and Dan.

I watched him go until I heard a cough behind me.

Maisie and Carrie were waiting for me.

I smiled but only Carrie smiled back.

We started walking.

What was with Maisie?

These days, she always had a sour look on her face.

Something was obviously really upsetting her.

But I couldn't figure out what it was.

I had tried asking her a couple of times but she always just brushed it off and said it was nothing.

Hopefully I would find out soon.

Until then though, I guess my best friend and I won't be as close as we used to for a while.

We didn't even talk in form anymore.

I just ran out of things to say and it looked like she didn't want to talk much either.

If that was how it was going to be, then... Fine.

She can have it her way.

I wasn't bothered.

Because I didn't talk to anyone in form anymore, it passed painfully slow.

I just wanted to get to Music already.

When the bell went, I practically jumped out of my chair.

Although, I couldn't just dart off.

I had to wait for Maisie.

It wasn't that I didn't want to walk with her.

It was that I wanted to see Frank straight away.

And it wasn't exactly like our walks were full of conversation.

The Music block was on the other side of the school.

So when we got there, we were some of the last to walk through the classroom door.

It was a matter of chance really.

Sometimes we were one of the first.

It depended on how fast we went.

That morning, Maisie had walked slow so that meant I had walked slow.

Frank was already there and smiled when I sat down across from him.

He smiled at Maisie too but of course she didn't return it.

He turned back to me and opened his mouth to speak but was stopped my the lesson beginning.

Practical today.

Mrs Wells said her usual thing then signalled for us to begin.

Frank had brought in his guitar today.

He had gotten into the habit of bringing it.

He preferred it to the school ones.

Maisie didn't care about the school ones and grabbed an acoustic.

I pulled out my lyric book and went to the last thing I was working on.

Demolition Lovers.

I hadn't told anyone about it properly yet.

Of course, Frank knew I was working on something new but he didn't know what exactly.

For about forty minutes, I just wrote down more lyrics and Frank played various songs.

He repeated our song a few times.

"Name," He suddenly said.

I looked up, "What?"

He looked at me and smiled, "We need a name for the song. How have I only just realised this?"

I guess I hadn't really thought about the name either.

I thought for a second before saying, "Maybe we should wait until Friday and name it together as a band."

Frank shrugged, "I guess."

"Why?" I asked, "Have you thought of something?"

"Nothing special," He shrugged.

I was about to say something else when something caught my eye.

Or should I say, someone.

Ray was standing at the door, talking to our teacher.

Instead, I said, "Why's Ray here?"

Frank frowned and looked behind him.

Ray saw us then and smiled a little.

We watched as Mrs Wells went back to her desk and Ray came over to us.

"Hey, guys," He sat in the empty chair next to Frank.

Frank raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing here?"

I looked at Maisie.

She looked confused but didn't say anything.

Instead, she got up without a word and went and sat by some girls in our class.

Well... Okay then.

"I have come with a proposal," Ray pulled me out of my thoughts.

I looked back at him, "A what?"

Frank sat back in his chair, "Gerard's mine. If anyone's proposing to him, it's me."

I couldn't help but laugh a little.

Ray's eyes widened, "No! Not a proposal for Gerard!"

Frank smirked, "Well then... No offence but... I like you and all but..."

"No, no!" Ray looked genuinely horrified.

Frank started laughing then and I joined in.

Ray narrowed his eyes at us, "Can you just listen to me please? It took a lot of persuading to come and talk to you."

"Yeah, what did you even say?" Frank looked over at Mrs Wells then back at Ray.

"I said it was important. I'm uh... Gonna leave out the details."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You worry me, Mr Toro," Frank smirked.

"Whatever," Ray sat up and bit his lip, "So, I know a guy."

Frank looked up again, "What kind of guy?"

I could tell he was pushing back the urge to make a joke about drug dealers or something.

"I have a friend in my Music class who is amazing on the drums."

Frank's ears pricked up, "Drums? You know a drummer?"

A drummer was the last piece of the puzzle.

If we had a drummer, it would feel like a proper band.

We would be a proper band.

That would be amazing.

"Have you talked to him?" I spoke for the first time in ages.

Ray shook his head, "Not yet. The thought only just came into my head a few minutes ago when I was watching him play."

Frank nodded, thinking.

"I think we should talk to Mikey first," I said, remembering what he had said last time.

"Yeah, of course," Ray agreed, "Do you know where he goes at break?"

"Not really," I admitted, "I'll text him to meet us here."

I reached into my pocket, grabbed my phone and hid it under the table.

As I started to sneakily text Mikey, Frank asked, "So, how good is your friend then?"

"Really good," Ray grinned, "We always play together."

I sent the message before returning my phone back to my pocket.

Ray looked at the clock on the wall, "I guess I had better get back to class. I'll see you guys here at break."

"Yeah, see you," Frank smiled.

Ray got up.

"Bye," I smiled too.

When Ray had left the room, I turned to Frank, "So, what do you think?"

He looked up from Pansy, "Not sure. We desperately need a drummer. If he's as good as Ray says he is, then... Great. But if Ray just said that because he's his friend... I'm not sure."

"Yeah," I nodded.

Neither of us said anything.

Frank started idly playing a tune which turned into our song.

After a while, he said, "I'm Not Okay."

I frowned, "What?"

He looked at me, "I'm Not Okay. That's what the song should be called."

I thought about it.

To be honest, that was a really obvious name.

Why hadn't I thought of it?

I guess I had just been thinking of smart, witty names or something.

This one was simple but effective.

"I like it," I nodded.

"Yeah? Not too obvious?"

"Well it is a little but I think that's the point."

He smiled, "Yeah, okay then."

I smiled back.

"Can't wait until break now," Frank strummed, "Maybe we should ask Ray to bring his friend. We should see him play."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"I'll go tell Ray quickly," Frank got up and put his guitar down.

"Okay," I watched him tell Mrs Wells he needed the toilet and leave the room.

A drummer would be awesome.

Maybe it would all start to feel real then.

We could have a name and everything.

This was exciting.


	23. Bob

{Gerard's POV}

 

I walked out of my english class to find Frank waiting outside for me as usual.

He grinned when he saw me and automatically laced his fingers through mine.

"So... Music?"

I smiled, "Yeah. Let's go."

We started walking.

Frank seemed to be pretty excited, "I can't believe we may actually get a drummer!"

"Yeah, me either," I agreed.

On the way to the music block, Frank talked about how both his dad and grandad were drummers.

I found this all really interesting.

I was learning a new thing about my boyfriend.

Just that in itself was pretty cool.

He stopped talking when we reached our destination and let go of my hand.

I knew why.

Mikey was most likely in there.

Frank sent me a sad look before opening the door and going inside.

I followed him upstairs to our classroom.

Ray and Mikey were in there, talking.

They looked up when they saw us walk through the classroom door.

"Hey, guys," Ray grinned.

"Mr Toro," Frank tipped an imaginary top hat.

"Oh stop calling me that," Ray smirked.

Frank winked and shook his head.

I don't know why but a little spike of jealousy hit me then.

Frank usually only winked at me.

Wow, it was sad that only something as small as that could annoy me.

"Why are we here then?" Mikey spoke for the first time, "No one's actually told me why yet."

"Really?" Frank frowned, "I thought Ray would have told you."

Ray blushed a little, "I got a little... Sidetracked."

"About what?" I asked.

"Video games."

Frank sniggered, "Well let's get off the topic of video games and onto the new one. Where is this miraculous drummer?"

Ray opened his mouth to speak but someone else did instead.

"I wouldn't call myself 'miraculous' but I'm pretty good."

We all looked in the direction of the voice.

There was a guy sitting at the drum kit, on his phone.

I hadn't noticed him back there...

He put his phone away and stood up.

"Bob," Was all he said.

Frank seemed to fly over to him, "Hi, Bob! I'm Frank and this is Gerard and his brother Mikey!"

Bob nodded at us all.

"Hi."

"Okay," Ray started, "I haven't exactly told Bob why he's here. I've just told him that we want to see him play."

"That's basically it isn't it?" I asked.

Ray nodded.

"We want to see him play?" Mikey raised an eyebrow.

I nodded at him before looking back at Frank and Bob.

"Are you good with writing your own drum tabs?" Frank was asking.

"Yeah," Bob replied, "It's pretty simple."

Frank nodded, "Okay. Can you um... Make something up right now?"

"Sure," Bob shrugged and sat back down.

Frank came and stood by me.

I saw his hand start to go for mine but then realised and pulled away.

Ray and Mikey, sat on a table, watched with anticipation.

Bob started.

He obviously didn't get scared performing in front of people.

I wished I was like that.

To be fair though, he was good.

Ray was right.

Well, I'd never doubted him.

I knew Frank hadn't either.

He just wanted to get back on Mikey's good side.

Although, I think Mikey had already forgiven us for consulting without him.

He seemed to like Ray so that was a good sign.

When Bob finished, he sat back and looked at us.

Frank was the first to speak, "Wow! You're really good!"

Bob shrugged.

"Fair enough," Mikey smiled a little.

"I told you guys!" Ray smiled with pride, "So what do you think?"

Frank looked at me.

I smiled and nodded a little.

A grin spread across Frank's face and he looked at the others.

"Gerard and I are in agreement. What about you guys?"

"You know I'm all for it," Ray replied.

We all looked at Mikey.

He nodded and said, "Yeah, okay then. He's got some skills that could come in handy."

Frank's smile grew even larger which I didn't think was possible.

"Ray," Frank said, "You talk to him since he's your friend."

"Okay."

Ray went over to the drum kit.

Bob looked at him, curiosity in his eyes.

"Hey, so, Bob," Ray began, "The reason I asked you here was because we, us guys, have a band. We haven't got a name yet and I only joined last Friday. However, Gerard has written a song."

Bob looked me, "You write songs?"

I nodded a little, "Yeah."

"And Frank has composed the guitar part," Ray continued, "Mikey's sorted the bass line and we've just started to work on a second guitar part. All that's left is drums."

Bob nodded, he knew what this meant.

"So, since you're an amazing drummer, I suggested you to the guys. They wanted to hear you first of course so um... Here we are now. What do you think?"

Bob looked at each of us before looking back up at Ray, "Sounds pretty cool."

"I know you hardly know us," Frank spoke, "But what do you think about joining?"

Bob shrugged, "Why not? I've never been in a band before."

A second grin spread across Frank's face, "Awesome!"

Bob smiled too.

We were actually a proper band now.

All we needed was a name.

I didn't have any ideas though.


	24. Actually Singing

{Gerard's POV}

 

"The Autumn concert is coming up," Mrs Wells told us, "I'll come round the class today and see which of you would like to perform."

Frank turned to me, his eyes widening.

I bit my lip.

A concert?

We hadn't even practised with me singing yet.

"I don't know, Frank..." I looked down.

"Hey," He waited until I looked up and said, "I don't want to push you into anything you're not comfortable with but this could be fun."

I nodded slowly.

It definitely could be fun; there was no denying that.

But...

I was scared.

"Why don't we at least try? We don't actually have to perform at the concert. Let's aim for it but we don't have to actually perform."

"Okay," I smiled a little.

It would be cool to perform though.

The concert was in a month.

That was plenty of time, right?

Mrs Wells appeared next to our table.

"Are you boys planning on performing anything?" She asked.

Frank looked from me to her and replied, "Can you put us down as a maybe?"

Mrs Wells frowned, "Both of you together?"

"Well," Frank smiled, "There's five of us."

She nodded, "Can you tell me who so I can write you guys down?"

Frank told her the other guys' names before Miss went to another table.

"Do you really think we'll be ready in time?" I asked when she had gone.

Frank shrugged, "I don't see why not. We've got a name for the song. All we need is a name for the band and to start rehearsing with you. Can you do it?"

I nodded a little, "Yeah... I-I think so. I'll try."

I meant it.

I really would try.

"That's all I can ask of you," Frank smiled, "How about you try and sing during this week's rehearsal? Ray and I have finished writing the second guitar part."

"Okay. I'll try. Maybe we could have a proper band rehearsal where we play it all the way through."

Frank nodded, "That would be awesome."

When Friday rolled around, I was already nervous.

Frank could tell.

He kept telling me it would be okay and gave me extra long hugs.

I knew it wasn't a big deal and that I had no reason to be scared.

All I was going to do was sing in front of my boyfriend, brother and our friends. 

Frank was the only one of them who had heard me sing and even then I wasn't really trying.

How would Mikey react?

Was I a bad singer?

I didn't really know.

"Frank?" I asked as we waited for the others to appear after school on Friday, "Am I a bad singer?"

He looked up from his guitar, "What? No! You're amazing, Gerard!"

"Really?" I wasn't convinced, "You've only heard me a couple of times."

He stood up, "And I got shivers both times. You're really good and I'm not just saying that."

I blushed a little, "Thanks."

"No problem."

He leant down and was about to kiss me when the door opened.

We both froze.

Slowly, Frank stood back up and looked towards the door.

"Uh..." Bob shut the door behind him, "Hi guys..."

Frank smiled as best as he could, "Hey, Bob."

Bob didn't move.

He raised an eyebrow, "So..."

The door opened again and Ray's head appeared.

"Hey, guys," He grinned and came into the room.

Bob moved so Ray could come in.

Ray looked from Bob to us.

"What's going on?" Ray frowned.

I felt awkward sitting down so I stood up next to Frank.

"I think I walked in at the wrong time," Bob smirked.

"Why?" Ray walked into the room more and put his bag on a table, "Were they making out or something?"

I blushed and looked down.

"He didn't give us the chance," Frank laughed a little.

I looked up again to see Bob smiling a little, "Are you guys a couple then?"

Frank spoke for us, "Yeah, we are."

"Cool," Bob came and put his bag down next to Ray's.

Well, he reacted better then I thought he would.

"Hey, um," I bit my lip, "Could you not tell Mikey...?"

Bob looked confused.

"Mikey doesn't know about them," Ray explained.

"How come?" Bob asked.

They all looked at me.

Now I felt super awkward.

"He's not ready for his family to find out yet..." Frank avoided eye contact.

I felt a little bad about that.

It wasn't that I was ashamed or anything.

I just... Wasn't ready for them to find out quite yet.

The door opened which caused us all to look up.

Mikey walked into the room and put his bag down.

"What are you guys doing?" He opened his bass case.

"Nothing," Frank was his chirpy self again.

He grabbed Pansy and put the strap over his head.

Ray did the same with his guitar.

I sat on the table and watched as they all got set up and placed themselves next to the drum kit.

Bob sat behind it and pulled out his drum sticks.

Frank was plugging in a microphone.

Could I do this?

I had to at least try.

I stood up and took some deep breaths.

"Gerard?"

They were all watching me.

Mikey was leaning against a table with his arms crossed.

Frank walked over to me.

"I know you can do this," He whispered, "You don't even have to face us."

I nodded and took the microphone out of his hand.

He smiled and went back over to the amps.

He turned one on and tested his guitar before turning to the one next to it.

When it was on, he nodded at me.

I shakily lifted the microphone up to my mouth and whispered, "One... Two... One. Two."

Frank turned it up a little and said, "Okay, awesome. You're set."

God, this was scary.

It shouldn't be though.

Mikey and Ray plugged in their instruments too.

"Did you want a mic stand?" Ray asked.

I nodded.

He grabbed one from behind him and set it up on the floor in front of me.

I gave him the microphone and he put it in the stand.

"There you go," He grinned and went back over to Mikey.

"Are we doing this or what?" Bob asked.

"Do you want to listen to it first to figure out the drum tab?" Frank said.

Bob nodded and sat back in his seat.

"Gee?" Frank called over to me.

I looked at him.

"Shall we work on when you come in?"

"Um okay..." I bit my lip.

Frank nodded towards Ray and Mikey.

Ray started up and the intro began.

I was practically shaking as I listened to them.

They played really well together to be fair.

I watched Frank as he played.

He was so into the music.

It was amazing.

When they came to the end of the intro, Frank stopped and shouted over the others, "Okay! That's where you would come in, Gee!"

Mikey and Ray stopped.

Frank smiled at me, "That's where you come in."

I nodded, "Okay."

"And you know where it changes for the chorus and shit. Do you think you could sing along?"

I slowly nodded again.

"Just face forward and don't think about it too much," Frank suggested.

"Hang on!" Mikey stood up properly, "Gerard's actually going to sing today? I thought you would wimp out again."

He could be really annoying sometimes.

"No, he said he would try today," Frank replied.

Mikey smirked and looked down at his bass.

He didn't think I could do it.

I could though.

I had to now just to show him.

"Ready?" Frank sent me an encouraging smile.

"Yeah, I am."

I felt a little more confident now.

No idea why.

I faced the front and put both hands on the microphone.

The guys started the intro again.

The pang of fear hit me again.

I knew I could do this.

They were coming to the end of the intro.

When did Frank say I had to come in?

Oh, God.

What if I missed my cue?

But then, I realised I had started singing.

Oh... Okay then.

I was a bit quiet and my voice was a little shaky but I was actually singing.

Just that thought made me feel better.

When I reached the chorus, my voice was calmer and I managed to raise it a little.

This was actually really cool.

No, this was amazing!

The song eventually ended and I had managed to sing through the whole thing.

How had I managed to do that?

"Gerard!"

I turned back to face them.

Frank had a massive grin spread across his face.

"I knew you could do it! That was amazing!"

I blushed, "Uh thanks."

Mikey and Ray looked pretty impressed too.

"Fair play," Mikey smiled a little.

Frank moved his guitar out of the way and threw his arms around me.

I smiled and hugged him back.

"Shall we go over it again with drums?" Ray asked.

Frank reluctantly pulled away and looked over to Bob.

"You got any ideas?" Frank asked.

Bob shrugged, "A little. Let me think about it. Do you think you could play it again and I could record you on my phone so I could listen to it over the weekend?"

"Go ahead," Frank nodded and grabbed his guitar again.

I didn't mind singing again.

This was fun.


	25. Everything Will Be Fine

{Gerard's POV}

 

It was a week until the concert and I was nervous.

Hell, nervous didn't even cover it.

Could I do this?

I'd managed to sing three times so far.

That was pretty good for me.

And two times had been with drums too.

The song was practically ready.

Frank had said that we needed a bridge or something though.

Ray and him had started working on a guitar solo.

I had no idea how they were doing it but it sounded awesome so far.

"How about changing it and saying you are okay for the bridge and the the chorus straight after contradicts what you're saying?" Frank suggested.

I nodded, "Okay. Should it be slower?"

"Definitely."

Half an hour later, we had a full bridge with instruments and everything.

I was a little skeptical about singing, "I'm not o-fucking-kay," in front of people so Frank had said I could change it to, "I'm really not okay," for the concert.

My mum wouldn't appreciate me swearing.

Neither would Mrs Wells.

So that sounded fine.

"Hey, Gee?"

It was two days before the concert now.

Tomorrow was the rehearsal.

"Yeah?"

Frank and I were at my house, in my room.

Mikey was out with friends.

It was still weird that he was out on a sunday.

Frank was lay back on my bed and I was sitting next to him.

"Do you think we're ready?" He looked up at me.

"I hope so," I shrugged, "I'm pretty nervous though."

Frank nodded, "I understand but you'll do amazing. Don't worry too much. I'll be standing right next to you."

I moved so I was lying down next to him.

His hand found mine straight away and he laced his fingers through mine.

"I'm just scared, Frank... I'm not used to performing in front of people."

"I'm not either."

"But you have so much confidence..." I sighed.

He looked at me, "Over time, you'll gain confidence too. I guess it's just the way I am but the more shows you do, the more confident you'll grow."

I was still a bit skeptical, "Are you sure...?"

He nodded, "Yep. And me and the guys will be there every step of the way."

That made me feel a little better.

It wasn't like it would be just me on stage.

Frank, Mikey, Ray and Bob would be there too.

Sure, I was singing on my own but it wasn't like it was just me.

Everything would be fine.

Hopefully.


	26. A Failure of a Rehearsal

{Gerard's POV}

 

We waited in the hall.

Waited for our fate.

Along with the rest of the acts.

The school's choir was on stage, singing some medley.

I was so fucking nervous.

And this was only the rehearsal.

The actual concert was tomorrow night.

Could I do this?

I had no idea.

No one was really watching the choir.

Everyone was talking, sat on chairs scattered around the hall.

We sat at the back in a row.

None of us spoke.

There were only a few other people in our year performing.

It was the same for every year really.

I guess the music teachers wanted a mix of students.

Oh, they had a mix alright.

We were a... Little different compared to the other acts.

That was a bit of an understatement.

It was four o'clock.

We had been here for about forty minutes so far.

Nearly all the acts had rehearsed.

We hadn't.

I knew we were up next though.

Mr Porter, Ray and Bob's music teacher, had told us we were after the choir.

They had almost finished their second song.

I looked at the guys.

Ray and Frank looked thoroughly excited and Bob and Mikey looked indifferent.

Looked like it was just me who felt a bit uneasy...

A pang of fear hit me when I noticed the choir were leaving the stage.

Shit.

Mr Porter was heading towards us.

Oh, God...

Please, no.

"You're up," He nodded at us.

Frank jumped up straight away.

The others got up and I shakily rose to my feet too.

They started going towards the stage.

My feet wouldn't move.

Frank noticed and stopped.

He came back over to me.

"Come on, Gee," He smiled, "Everything will be fine."

I nodded slowly and followed him to the stage.

People watched as we got onto the stage.

Mr Porter had somehow appeared on there too and was adjusting the mic to my height.

Holy shit, this was actually happening.

Frank and the others were setting themselves up with the amps.

Bob tested the drums out before sitting comfortably and waiting.

I stood at the front of the stage, helpless.

I hesitantly looked out and saw that everyone was staring at us.

Oh.... God.

I couldn't do this.

"Okay, Gerard," Frank caught my attention, "We're ready. Are you?"

I didn't know what to say so I just nodded.

I wasn't ready though.

Nowhere near.

"Okay!" Frank called to the others and they all nodded in return.

I looked at the microphone.

"Could you test it please, Gerard?!" Mr Porter was by the sound system.

I cautiously walked up to it and whispered, "One, two... One, two..."

"Awesome. Go on then, guys," Mr Porter gave us the thumbs up.

Next, I heard Bob counting us in with his sticks and the guitar started.

Soon, they all joined in and were all playing.

Everyone in the hall was watching us.

Shit shit shit!

I couldn't do this.

I was going to throw up.

I had to sing soon though.

I... I couldn't do it.

My part was now.

But... I didn't sing.

They carried on playing.

Frank was at my side, playing his guitar.

"Gee?" He managed to say, "Come on, you can do this."

I shook my head, my eyes not leaving our little audience.

"Gerard..." He sounded frantic.

I felt bad but... I just couldn't.

This was all too much.

I backed away from the mic which resulted in me almost tripping over an amp.

There was a giggle below us.

I blushed bright red and jumped off the stage.

Luckily, I managed not to break my leg and bolted through the hall doors.

The music stopped behind me.

"Gerard!" I heard.

People were probably laughing at me.

I was pathetic.

I couldn't even sing in front of a few people.

So how could I sing tomorrow night?

It was impossible.

I was such a wimp.

I found a bench and sat on it, my head falling into my hands.

"Gerard."

I didn't look up.

I already knew who it was.

I felt him sit down next to me and put an arm around me.

This was so unfair on the guys.

Why couldn't I perform one measly song for them?

"It's okay, Gee," He rubbed my back.

I sat up and looked at him.

Tears were spilling out of my eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, Frank..."

He shook his head, "Shhh... You have nothing to be sorry about."

I frowned, "But I embarrassed myself and ran off stage."

He put his arm around me more.

"You didn't embarrass yourself. You were a bit nervous, that's all. Don't be ashamed."

I looked at my feet.

Nonetheless, I felt ashamed.

"I still think you can do it," He suddenly said.

I looked at him.

Was he crazy?

"What?"

He smiled at me, "I know you can do this."

I shook my head, "No way."

He nodded, "Yes way."

This was ridiculous.

I couldn't do this!

"I can't do it, Frank! I couldn't do it in front of like twenty people. What makes you think I can do it in front of fifty?!"

"Calm down," He soothed, "I know you can do this, Gee. I believe in you."

It was nice that he believed in me but... How could I do it when I couldn't even believe in myself?

"If you don't want to then... I won't force you. But I think you'll regret it," He reasoned.

I hated to admit it but, he was right.

I most probably would regret it.

So... Maybe I should at least try.

"Mr Porter's already kicked us off of the stage. He doesn't think you can do it but I do. Prove him wrong, Gee."

I didn't say anything.

I was thinking things over.

"I think I can persuade him to keep us as an act even without a rehearsal. But I need you to agree first."

I didn't want to disappoint Frank.

And if I chickened out, I would be known as the guy with stage fright.

I didn't want to be known as that.

I wanted confidence like Frank.

He had said that performing helped to grow your confidence.

Also, what did I have to lose?

Nothing really.

I could probably make it through without really humiliating myself.

Hopefully.

I looked at Frank again.

He was waiting for an answer.

I took a deep breath before speaking, "I can't believe I'm saying this but... Okay. I'll try. For you, Frank."

A huge grin spread across his face.

"Awesome! Thanks, Gee!"

He grabbed me and pulled me into a massive hug before jumping up again.

"I'll go talk to Mr Porter and get your bag. I don't suppose you want to go back in there?"

"Not really," I admitted.

He nodded, "Okay. I'll be back in a bit."

He disappeared back inside.

I sighed.

Looked like I was doing this.

God, this was scary.

Let's hope I could actually go through with it.


	27. The Showcase

{Gerard's POV}

 

"This is exciting. I never thought I would see you boys perform in a concert. Especially together," My mum grinned as Mikey and I said goodbye.

"Make sure you get a good seat," Mikey told her.

Mum nodded, "Of course. You two had better go since you have to be down there early."

We both hugged her before leaving and walking down to school in silence.

When we were five minutes away, Mikey asked, "Are you nervous?"

"Of course I am," I sighed.

"It'll be fine," He tried to reassure me, "Just don't run off stage again."

I laughed dryly, "Yeah, I'll try not to."

"Frank was pretty worried when you did. I've never seen him run so fast. He almost broke his guitar when he took it off."

I blushed a little, "Oh..."

"It was entertaining to watch," Mikey continued, "Before we got kicked off the stage of course."

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay. Everyone was staring at us."

I nodded slowly.

Great.

Just what I wanted to hear.

It was fine though.

Everything would be fine.

We arrived at school to find people rushing around.

I'd never been in a school show before so this was all new territory to me.

Mikey looked a bit lost as well.

We walked into the hall but that was as far as we wanted to go.

We stopped by the door and watched as some boys in my music class were sorting out a soundtrack to play before the show started, Mr Porter was setting up more instruments and the choir was practising on stage.

"Gerard! Mikey!"

Frank was running down the aisle of chairs towards us.

Before I could stay anything, he practically jumped into my arms.

"You're finally here!" He was saying.

"Uh yeah," I smiled.

He pulled away and grinned at us both.

"Ray and Bob are backstage and so are Taylor and Maisie."

I frowned, "Maisie's here?"

Frank nodded, "Yeah. She wanted to see you."

"Oh."

"Since when did we have a backstage?" Mikey butt in.

"It's just the PE changing rooms," Frank laughed as he started leading us back down the aisle.

Before we managed to leave through the door on the other side of the room, Mr Porter appeared out of nowhere.

"Gerard," He made me jump, "Could I speak to you please?"

Frank and Mikey stopped and waited.

I nodded and he walked me a little bit away from them.

"I've talked to Frank," He began, "He says you're going to give it a try?"

"Um yeah," I replied.

"Are you nervous? Do you think you can do it?"

Sir really wasn't helping.

"I'll really try, Sir."

He nodded, "If you're sure."

"I am."

He smiled before walking over to Mrs Wells.

I took a deep breath.

Fuck, that really hadn't helped with my nerves.

I could've done without that.

"Come on, Gee!" Frank called to me.

I went back over to them and we went 'backstage'.

To get to the changing rooms, we had to go back outside and through a little corridor.

The changing rooms were to the right of the corridor.

There were even more people back here.

It looked like this was a joint music and dance showcase because there were students all dressed up and hairspray was everywhere.

I couldn't help but cough a little as we made our way through.

Outside the changing rooms, Ray, Taylor and Maisie were talking.

Ray's eyes lit up when he saw us.

"You're finally here! Great!" He beamed.

"Gerard!" Taylor pulled me into a hug, "Why didn't you tell us you were performing?!"

"I didn't think it was that much of a big deal," I shrugged when she had pulled away.

"It's a really big deal, Gee!" Frank piped up, "This is gonna be amazing!"

I smiled at him.

I really did love his enthusiasm.

"Where's Bob?" Mikey asked.

"Toilet," Ray replied.

Mikey nodded.

"I think I might go quickly actually," He said.

"I'll go with you," Ray followed him outside.

"How long until the show starts?" Maisie spoke for the first time.

"Fifteen minutes or so," Frank answered, "We're the third act."

"Third?!" My breath caught in my throat.

Third was pretty close to the start and I didn't like that.

Concern flashed in Frank's eyes.

"Is that too early for you?" He asked.

I wasn't sure what to say so I just shrugged.

"Tell me if it is, Gee," He placed his hand on my shoulder, "I could ask Mr Porter if he could move us near the end if you want."

I shook my head, "Honestly, it's fine."

"Don't worry," He smiled, "The first part is all dance. We're not even on until after the interval."

That made me feel better.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It'll be fine."

I sighed in relief.

Thank God for that.

At least I had a chance to calm myself down a little.

We were the third act after the interval.

There was at least half an hour before we went on.

Okay, I could deal with that.

When the show started, we had to wait quietly in the boys changing room.

All five of us sat in the back corner on one of the benches.

"Anyone nervous?" Ray asked.

I nodded.

I knew I definitely was.

Mikey shrugged, "A little I guess."

Bob didn't say anything and Frank didn't seem to be listening.

"Me too," Ray replied to Mikey.

Frank pulled out his phone and grimaced.

"What is it?" I asked.

He looked at me and tried to smile, "Nothing. My mum and stepdad are here."

"Is that a bad thing...?" Mikey raised an eyebrow.

"Not really. I just didn't want them to come that's all."

"Why not?" Ray asked.

"They keep arguing and it's getting on my nerves," Frank sighed.

No one spoke until Bob said, "Just forget about it, Frank. Tonight's going to be awesome."

Frank nodded, the colour returning to his face, "Yeah, it is."

The interval rolled around and we had the choice to go and get a drink and talk to our parents a little but none of us wanted to.

I was feeling more and more sick as the time wore on.

I felt like throwing up but I was so excited at the same time.

Frank had said that that was what performing was like.

I kind of liked it.

"Interval's over," Someone came in and told us all, "Choir onstage."

A couple of boys left the changing room.

It would be us soon.

Oh, God.

I looked at Frank.

He was watching me carefully.

He must've seen the worry in my expression because he stood up, said, "We'll be back in a minute," and took me by the arm.

When we were outside, in the cold air, he turned to me, "Are you okay?"

I looked down, not sure what to say.

"I get it," He said, "I was nervous the first time I performed. But you get such a buzz, Gee. It's fucking amazing! When we finish, you'll want to go and do it all over again."

"Really?"

He smiled, "Yeah, you really will. If you're that nervous about singing on your own, we could get a second mic and I could sing backing vocals. I would just join in at the chorus but it might help a little."

I nodded, "Yeah, that would make me feel better."

"Good," He grinned, "Of course my mic won't be as loud as yours but you'll still be able to hear me."

"Thanks, Frank."

"No problem."

He pulled me into another hug.

When he pulled away, he looked up at me and grinned.

"You can do this," He leant up and both our eyes closed as his lips touched mine.

We stayed like that for a little while until he ended the kiss and said, "Come on. We'll be on soon."

I nodded and followed him back inside.

Ray, Mikey and Bob were waiting by the back entrance to the stage.

"We're on next," Ray told us.

Frank smiled an encouraging smile at me.

He really did make me feel a lot better.

I heard clapping then.

Oh, God.

It was us now.

"You can do it, Gee!" Frank stage-whispered.

The others smiled at me and nodded.

I blushed a little and smiled back.

I could do this.

I knew I could.

Especially with these guys.

They made me feel so much better.

The door to the stage opened and two year eights walked out.

Are you serious?

If two little year eights can do it, then so could I!

The guys started walking up the steps and I shakily followed.

We reached the stage to find Mr Porter sorting the mic to my height.

The curtain was closed.

I didn't really want it to open.

"Sir," Frank whispered to him, "I need a mic too but not one that's as loud as Gerard's."

Mr Porter nodded, "Here, this one's been used as a backing one."

He adjusted it to Frank's height.

"Are you just doing backing for him?" Mr Porter asked.

Frank nodded.

I looked around to see Bob was ready and waiting, and Ray and Mikey were setting themselves up with the amps.

Frank had his guitar set up as well now.

I stood next to the mic and placed both my hands on it.

This was so scary.

Mr Porter had vanished.

I could hear him talking though.

I then realised that he was on the other side of the curtain, talking to the audience.

He was introducing us.

"They haven't got a name yet," He was saying, "But they're a mixture of both BTEC and GCSE music students. And also, they're not all in the same year. Most of them are though. This is their own composition. Which means they've written it themselves. Here is Gerard Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Michael Way and Bob Bryar."

I heard Mikey curse quietly behind me.

He hated it when people called him Michael.

The curtains opened then.

They actually caught me off guard and for a moment, I was just staring into the sea of faces.

Oh fuck.

I felt so awkward.

Bob was counting us in with his drumsticks.

I could do this.

The intro started.

I took a deep breath.

This was it.

It was now my turn to sing.


	28. Smiling On Stage

{Maisie's POV}

 

Mr Porter appeared from behind the curtain.

"They haven't exactly got a name yet but they're a mixture of both BTEC and GCSE music students. And also, they're not all in the same year. Most of them are though."

Taylor nudged me, "I think this is them."

I nodded.

That sounded right.

"This is their own composition," Mr Porter continued, "Which means they've written it themselves."

"No shit, Sir," Taylor mumbled.

"Here is Gerard Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Michael Way and Bob Bryar."

Everyone started clapping and Mr Porter got off the stage.

I sighed.

Gerard's name made me happy and sad at the same time.

Why did I have to feel like this?

It really wasn't fair.

"Look!" Taylor squealed. 

The curtains had opened and they were standing on stage.

Gerard looked really awkward.

In fact, he looked like he was going to throw up or something.

He didn't have time to though; the rest of them had started playing.

I didn't see anyone else though.

I could hear them but I couldn't see them.

I didn't want to.

Although, they were really good.

All I saw was Gerard.

He shuffled a little closer to the microphone, his hands glued to it.

I could tell he was shaking a little.

I wanted to give him a hug.

How did he have the confidence to even stand up there?

I would never be able to do that.

Gerard opened his mouth slowly.

Was it his turn to sing?

The first line came out of his lips.

It was a little quiet but I could hear him.

"Well, if you wanted honesty... That's all you had to say... I never want to let you down or have you go... It's better off this way... For all the dirty looks, the photographs your boyfriend took, remember when you broke your foot from jumping out the second floor-"

By the end of the verse, Gerard was smiling a little and was getting louder.

I could tell he was enjoying it.

"I'm not o-kay! I'm not o-ka-a-a-ay! I'm not o-ka-a-ay! You wear me out!"

It was during the chorus that I noticed Frank.

He sang along.

It shocked me a little when I heard him because I had been so focused on Gerard.

I watched him as he sang along and played at the same time.

I hated to admit it, but he was pretty good on the guitar.

As he played, I noticed that he kept glancing over at Gerard.

He was probably checking to see if he was alright.

Ugh.

Why did he have to be such a good boyfriend?

Gerard was really getting into it now.

As the song wore on, you could tell his confidence was growing.

He was grinning and was pretty loud.

I felt happy for him.

He was actually enjoying this.

So were the rest of the guys.

Even Gerard's brother.

The song eventually ended though with a bit of shouting from both Gerard and Frank.

I knew some of the parents wouldn't have liked that but who cared?

Everyone burst into a round of applause.

Taylor and I stood up because we were at the back of the room.

"Whoo!" Taylor cheered, "Love you guys!"

I rolled my eyes a little.

A couple of people sat in front of us looked at us and frowned.

Taylor didn't seem to notice.

"Thank you," Gerard managed to say into the mic.

He smiled a little at Frank and the curtain closed.

The clapping soon subsided and we sat back down.

"Wow," Taylor grinned, "I didn't realise they were that good!"

"Me either," I replied.

I really hadn't.

Never had I thought they were all so talented.

"Let's go find them!" Taylor stood up and headed outside.

I had no choice but to follow her.

I didn't mind seeing the guys but seeing Gerard and Frank together hurt a little.

Just as we had come outside, the guys did too.

"You guys were amazing!" Taylor beamed at them.

They all looked pretty red in the face but proud.

"Gerard was the amazing one!" Frank pulled him into a hug, "I'm so proud of you!"

I looked away.

I was still getting used to them being together.

Although, they couldn't be too touchy-feely around Gerard's brother.

"Should we go and sit in the back and watch the rest of the show?" Ray suggested.

"Yeah," Frank had his arm around Gerard in a friendly way, "That's a good idea."

We all entered the hall quietly and sat at the back.

We sat in the order: Frank, Gerard, me, Taylor, Ray, Mikey and Bob.

A girl from year nine was singing onstage while a boy was playing an electric acoustic guitar.

In the dark, I saw Frank place his hand in Gerard's.

I wish I could hold Gerard's hand.

Why did he have to like guys?

I sighed.

Would I ever get over him?

It didn't seem like it.

I really hoped I could though.

Because of these stupid feelings, I couldn't help but envy Frank.

A lot.

It was even getting to the point where I disliked him.

I hated that but I couldn't help it.

Maybe Taylor was right; maybe I should tell Gerard how I feel.

It might help.

I doubted it though.

So that meant I would never tell him.

Never.


	29. Cuddling

{Gerard's POV}

 

How had I managed to do that?

I sang in front of a hall full of people.

Just... Wow.

That was amazing.

Frank was right, I wanted to do it all over again.

Especially with him by my side.

It gave me such a buzz.

I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Although, my good mood was broken fast.

It was only the next day when it did.

That made it worse.

Frank had agreed to come round my house so we had started to walk there after school.

At first, it was a perfectly normal affair.

That was until we reached the alley.

You can guess who appeared.

I didn't think he would have because Frank was with me.

But yeah... I was wrong.

"Hi there," Lewis grinned.

We stopped walking.

Lewis was leaning on the wall next to the alley and his friends were right next to him.

"Isn't this sweet? A couple of homos."

I bit my lip.

A couple of Lewis' friends sniggered at his comment.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Frank's fist clench.

"What do you want?" He asked through gritted  
teeth.

"Oh, nothing in particular," Lewis smiled, "We were just talking about how unnatural it is."

"How unnatural what is?"

I didn't like the fact that Frank was talking to him but at the same time, I admired his courage.

"Being queer. It's unnatural. But I guess you already know that," Lewis could tell he was hitting a nerve.

Frank took a step forward before stopping himself.

"Why don't you grow up?" He crossed his arms, "Get the fuck out of here. You obviously have nothing better to do than pick on harmless people who are only a year or so younger than you. That's pretty sad."

My eyes widened.

Had Frank actually just said that?

Never had I even considered saying something like that to Lewis.

Maybe that was because I was such a coward.

Lewis' smile vanished.

He stood up properly.

"Fucking homo," He spat at the floor.

Frank ignored him.

He turned back to me, grabbed my hand and dragged me down the road.

"You'll rot in hell, you dirty queers!" I heard behind us.

Great.

Now he hated us even more.

I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me.

"Ignore him," Frank said, looking straight ahead.

I didn't reply.

I took everything Lewis said pretty seriously.

I couldn't help it.

After all, he'd made my life hell for a while now.

So, of course I was going to take what he said to heart.

"He's not worth getting angry or upset over," Frank seemed to be telling himself more than me, "He's just a low-life bastard."

He was right about that.

Lewis was a low-life bastard.

I could agree with that.

After a minute, Frank looked at me and smiled.

"I'm proud of you and I really can't stress that enough."

I smiled and looked down.

"I'm serious, Gerard. You were amazing yesterday."

I looked at him again, "So were you."

He shook his head, "Nah, I was alright."

"More than alright. You were phenomenal!"

We reached my house.

Reluctantly, I let go of his hand and unlocked the front door.

"Phenomenal is a bit of an over statement," He said as we walked into the house.

"No it isn't. Just accept that I'm right, Frank."

He smirked at me, "Is there any use in arguing?"

"Nope."

I shut the front door and we both took our shoes and bags off.

"Okay, fine. If I was phenomenal... You were fucking spectacular!"

I laughed a little, "Agreed."

He followed me upstairs, into my room.

When I had shut my door and we were both sitting on my bed, he said, "We need a name."

I frowned, "What?"

"A name," He grinned, "For the band."

I'd forgotten about names.

"Yeah, I guess we do."

He lay back on my bed, "Any suggestions?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."

"I have a little but I haven't come up with anything," He replied.

I nodded, thinking.

Nothing came up straight away.

I'd never been in a band so this wasn't something I'd ever thought about before.

"I'll bring it up on Friday," Frank closed his eyes, "Maybe the guys will have an idea."

"Maybe."

I smiled at him even though he couldn't see me.

He was adorable.

Just lying on my bed with his arms behind his head and his eyes closed.

I kind of wanted to snuggle up next to him but that would have been weird.

"I apologise in advance if I fall asleep on your bed," He said without opening his eyes.

"That's okay," I smirked.

I was feeling a bit tired myself.

School really took it out of me.

I hated constantly feeling both physically and mentally drained when I returned home every day.

It sucked.

I leant back against the wall next to my bed and closed my eyes.

It wasn't very comfy.

I opened my eyes again.

Frank hadn't moved.

In fact, from the way he was breathing slowly, it looked like he had dropped off.

That was fucking adorable.

Should I take a picture and use it as blackmail at a later date?

Nah, I wasn't that mean.

Instead, I lay down next to him.

My movement hadn't stirred him.

I moved a little so I was right next to him.

I closed my eyes.

Now that I was aware of my tiredness, I couldn't keep my eyes open.

"A nap wouldn't hurt, right?"

I opened my eyes to see Frank grinning at me.

"I guess not," I smiled a little.

"Good," He wrapped his arms around me, "Because I'm fucking exhausted."

He closed his eyes again.

I cuddled right up next to him and closed my own eyes.

This was actually really nice.

I liked being this close to him.

We'd never really cuddled before.

We should do it more often.

I could tell he was asleep.

My turn.

I slowed my breathing down and relaxed in his arms.


	30. Soloist

{Gerard's POV}

 

"Gerard? Could I have a word?"

I looked up to see Mrs Wells smiling down at me.

"Uh yeah, sure."

I stood up and followed her to her desk.

"So," She sat down and looked up at me, "As you know, we go down to the Cathedral every year. The choir perform and I get to choose two soloists. I was wondering if you would like to do a solo?"

I blinked.

Me?

Sing a solo?

"Really?" I frowned.

"Yes," She grinned, "You have a lovely voice. You should've told me you can sing."

"I didn't realise I could..." I muttered.

"You really can, Gerard. So, what do you say?"

I thought for a moment.

A solo implied that it would be just me and someone playing the piano for me.

That was scary.

I didn't like the fact that Frank wouldn't be by my side.

But...

This was an exciting thing, right?

Out of everyone in year eleven and ten, Miss chose me.

That had to mean something.

"What sort of song would I sing?" I asked.

"You can choose but of course, it has to have something to do with Christmas."

"Okay, Miss. Um... Yeah. I'll do a solo."

I couldn't believe I'd actually agreed.

"That's great, Gerard!" She beamed, "Let me know what song you want to do. If you can't think of any, just say and I'll suggest some."

"Thanks, Miss."

I went back over to our table and sat down, a little dumbstruck.

No one said anything at first until Frank caught my attention.

"Gerard? What was that about?"

I looked up to see both him and Maisie looking at me.

"Um... Miss asked me to sing a solo in the Cathedral."

Frank's eyes widened, "Really? Are you gonna do it?"

I nodded slowly.

He grinned, "That's awesome, Gee!"

I nodded again.

I hoped I was able to do it.

The Cathedral was a big place and there would be a lot more people there than at the school concert.

"What are you going to sing?" Maisie asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know yet."

~

The solo was the only thing I thought about all week.

I still had no idea what I was going to sing.

Whenever I saw Mrs Wells, she always asked and I always had no idea.

She'd given me a couple of suggestions.

To be honest, I wasn't really that bothered about what I was singing.

The thought of singing on my own in front of so many people...

The concert was one thing but this...

This was massive compared to it.

I was really doubting wether I could do it.

"Gerard!" Mrs Wells greeted me when she saw me awkwardly standing in the doorway.

It was the end of the day and exactly a week until the service at the Cathedral.

"Um... I thought that I should come and speak to you about my solo..." I felt pretty uncomfortable.

"Of course," She beamed, "Come on in then."

I hesitantly walked into the room a little more, took off my bag and put it on top of the nearest table.

"Have you thought about which song you'd like to sing?" She asked.

I shrugged, "I've thought about it but I haven't chosen yet."

"Well," She strode over to the piano, "Why don't you sing both and see which one you like better?"

She sat down behind the electric piano and turned it on.

I frowned, "What? Now?"

She laughed, "Yes, now. You don't have anywhere you have to be anytime soon do you?"

I quickly scanned through any excuses but I couldn't think of any.

"Um... I guess not."

I walked over to the piano.

"Which one first then?" She took out a load of music sheets.

"I don't mind."

~

"It's a hard song but I think you should sing Hallelujah, Gerard," Mrs Wells said after I'd shakily sang a couple of songs.

I bit my lip, "Really? I thought it sounded really bad."

She shook her head, "Don't be silly. It was lovely. How about you come back after school next Monday and Wednesday to practise?"

"Um... Yeah, sure."

She stood up and walked to her desk.

I went back over to my bag and put it on.

Surely I wasn't good enough to sing Hallelujah. 

This whole thing was stressing me out a little.

Mrs Wells seemed to read my mind, "Don't worry, Gerard. The solo will go great. You're a better singer than you realise. You should give yourself more credit."

I wasn't sure about that.

"Thanks, Miss. I'll um... See you tomorrow."

She grinned, "Goodbye, Gerard."

I left the classroom and made my way outside.

It was getting dark early now.

Winter was definitely on it's way.

And so was Christmas.

I shivered a little and pulled my blazer around me more.

I needed a coat really.

The walk home was uneventful.

Because I had stayed after school for a little while, Lewis and his friends weren't waiting for me.

I was glad about that.

After our last meeting, I had been avoiding walking home at the normal time.

I was scared what would happen if I came across Lewis and his friends again.

However, it had been nearly three weeks since I'd seen them.

The longest it had ever been without another encounter.

I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

I knew I'd see them again.

Bad luck always worked in my favour.

It was only a few punches and taunts though.

I was such a wimp.

I needed to sort myself out.


	31. Cathedral Day

{Gerard's POV}

 

The day was here.

The day of my solo.

Cathedral day.

Nervous was an understatement.

Luckily, Frank was coming too.

He had somehow convinced Mrs Wells to let him tag along and help with the sound system.

That was usually the BTEC group's job so I had no idea how he managed to swing it.

Still, I wasn't questioning it.

I was happy he was coming.

At about two o'clock, I made my way over to the Canteen with Maisie.

She was singing with choir at the Cathedral.

Taylor was in the choir too.

We walked into the Canteen to see a large group of students dotted about the hall.

I spotted Frank straight away.

His black hair stood out.

He was talking to Taylor.

We went over to them.

"Hey," Frank smiled when he saw us.

"Hey..." I smiled sheepishly.

He slipped his hand into mine and squeezed it gently.

"You nervous?" He asked.

I shrugged.

Of course I was.

Who wouldn't be?

I'd never performed a solo before.

This was unknown territory.

"Don't worry, Gee!" Taylor piped up, "You'll do great!"

I looked away, not sure of what to say.

Frank squeezed my hand again.

I looked at him.

He smiled before leaning in and kissing me on the forehead.

I blushed slightly but smiled.

"Okay, everyone!" Mr Porter's voice was suddenly shouting, "Settle down. We're going to take a register and then get everyone on the coach."

He was calling people's names out then.

A slight pang of fear hit me.

This was actually happening.

I wasn't a good enough singer to do this.

Shit shit shit.

"And... Gerard Way?"

"Huh?" I was pulled out of my little freakout, "Oh. Yes, Sir."

I was always last on the register.

Stupid last name.

"Okay then. Everyone's here. Let's head off."

He started leading everyone outside.

I clung onto Frank's hand, not wanting to leave his side.

I didn't listen to whatever the others were talking about on the way to the Cathedral.

I just leant my head on Frank's shoulder and thought about what was about to happen.

He must have sensed my nervousness because he put an arm around me and pulled me closer to him.

It only took us fifteen minutes to get to the Cathedral but by then, my stomach was uneasy.

Mr Porter herded us off of the coach and inside.

We were told to be quiet.

The Cathedral was a big building with high ceilings and glass windows.

I wasn't exactly religious but it was a tradition of our school to come here every Christmas term.

After Mr Porter had given us instructions, he asked us to do a run-through.

We only had time for one rehearsal before the actual service.

I was made to sit across from the choir with the other soloists on the stage.

Well, it wasn't really a stage.

It was a slightly elevated platform.

I only knew one of the other soloists.

She was a girl in my year.

I think her name was... Izzy?

Yeah.

She smiled at me and I half-smiled back.

She had done this before.

I hadn't.

And I was shitting myself.

The worst part was that Frank had been taken away from me.

Mr Porter had whisked him away to show him the sound system.

So now I was lost.

My rock, my anchor had been taken away from me.

By the time I finally saw Frank again, my name was called.

He was walking over to me.

"Gerard?"

I pulled my eyes away from Frank to Mrs Wells.

"It's your turn to rehearse," She smiled.

I swallowed slowly and found myself standing up and walking over to her and the mic.

I glanced back over my shoulder to see Frank now sitting down next to Maisie and Taylor.

Along with the rest of choir, they were watching me.

Well, shit.

"Gerard?" Mrs Wells caught my attention again.

She was sitting at the electric piano.

I looked back down at the mic.

At least I didn't really have anyone to look at.

That made me feel a little better I guess.

"You ready, Gerard?" Mr Porter called from the sound desk behind me.

I shakily put my hands on the mic and spoke into it, "Yeah."

Mrs Wells was playing the piano then.

Okay... Let's do this.

 

~

 

{Frank's POV}

"That's basically it," Mr Porter grinned.

"Cool," I nodded.

He seemed pretty infatuated with the sound desk so I asked, "Is it okay if I go watch the rehearsals for a bit?"

"Sure," He waved me off.

Awesome.

I headed for the choir.

Gerard was around here somewhere.

I wanted to make sure he was okay.

I knew he was pretty nervous.

He would be amazing though.

He always was.

And there was the guy himself.

He was sitting on the other side of the stage, across from the choir.

His eyes met mine and he smiled.

I grinned back.

"Gerard?" Mrs Wells was by the microphone, "It's your turn to rehearse."

Damn.

Well, I guess I could talk to him after.

He got up and went over to her.

I noticed Maisie and Taylor.

"Hey," I smiled and sat down next to them.

"Hey, Frank," Taylor beamed, "How's it going?"

"Alright," I shrugged, "Just came to see Gerard rehearse."

"Have you heard him yet? Sing this song I mean?"

"No," I realised, "I actually haven't. He wouldn't let me."

"Well, he can't stop you now," Taylor smirked.

"Looks like it," I focussed on him again.

He had just spoken into the mic and was about to start.

Taylor was saying something but I wasn't listening.

I was focussed on my piece of sunshine.

My favourite person ever.

My Gerard.

Mrs Wells was playing and he began.

...Fuck.

It still gave me shivers whenever I heard him sing.

His voice was so bloody perfect.

He was so bloody perfect.

This song fit with his voice really well.

Maybe I should have made him sing it to me earlier.

The chorus came and... Shitting hell.

Had I mentioned how perfect he is?

Why was he even with me?

He was amazing and I was... Eh.

I was so lucky to be with him.

"Jesus Christ..." I murmured.

Of course I was vaguely aware that I was in a Cathedral.

Oh well.

I was focussed on Gerard.

I couldn't keep my eyes off of him.

Even though he had his back to me, I couldn't stop watching him.

I honestly couldn't describe how I felt about him.

He was so amazing and wonderful and perfect and beautiful and I... I...

"Shit, I love him so much."

Uh...

Did I really just say that out-loud...?

"Frank!" Taylor squealed in my ear.

I'll take that as a yes.

Taylor grabbed my arm and shook it until I eventually looked at her unwillingly.

"What?" I asked.

"You love Gerard?!" She was practically jumping off of her seat.

I looked from her to Gerard, back to her, "Uh..."

"You just said you did! Didn't he say that, Maisie?!"

I looked at Maisie.

I wasn't too sure what her expression was showing but she looked both shocked and disappointed.

"Um... Yeah, he did," She answered, looking down at the floor.

I looked back over at Gerard.

"Um..." I wasn't too sure what to say, "I-I guess I do. Yeah, I do."

How had I only just realised I did?

It was so obvious to me now.

I was fucking in love with him!

"You need to tell him!" Taylor squeaked.

"What? No way," I looked away.

"He probably feels the same way. You need to!" She insisted.

I wasn't too sure though.

Why would he feel the same way?

It was a miracle he was even with me in the first place.

Also, I knew the price of saying the L word too early.

"I'm uh... I'm gonna wait a bit first," I decided.

"Fine," Taylor pouted, "But can I be there when you do tell him?"

I frowned, "No way."

She made some irritated noise but kept quiet.

She really got on my nerves sometimes.

I looked back at Gerard.

He had just finished.

I clapped along with everyone else.

He shyly looked over before blushing and smiling at his feet.

So fucking adorable.

I was definitely in love with him.

 

~

 

{Gerard's POV}

It was the end of the day.

I had actually done it.

I had sang a solo in front of more than one hundred people.

Shitting hell.

I don't mean to pat myself on the back but well done me.

"Hey," Frank smiled at me.

The service had just finished and most of the Cathedral was empty now apart from our school.

We were waiting for Mrs Wells to dismiss us.

As it was the last day of term, we didn't have to go back to school on the coach.

We were allowed to leave from here.

Frank pulled me into a hug and held me there.

"You were so fucking good," He spoke into my ear.

"Thanks," I smiled.

"Okay, everyone. You can go now. Have a lovely Christmas!" Mrs Wells called out.

Frank pulled away and took my hand.

Maisie and Taylor were next to us now.

"Aw I'm gonna miss you guys over the holiday!" Taylor pulled us both into a hug.

"Yeah, we'll miss you too," Frank replied and managed to escape the hug.

I half-smiled at Maisie.

She tried to smile back but it wasn't very convincing.

"My mum's outside," Taylor told Maisie, "Did you want a lift?"

"Yeah, thanks," Maisie replied.

After a lot of waving, they left.

Practically everyone had gone now.

Still holding hands, we slowly walked towards the exit.

Frank swung our hands slightly.

"So..." He looked at the floor, "I guess I won't see you for a while now."

My smile dropped, "Yeah..."

"How long is Christmas break?" He asked.

"Two weeks."

"And you're leaving me?" He smirked.

"I'm not leaving you," I rolled my eyes, "I'm going away for a week and then going straight to my dad's for New Years."

"Basically leaving me," He winked at me.

We were by the entrance to the Cathedral now.

"My mum's picking me up soon and we're going more or less straight away," I sighed.

"That fucking sucks. Why do you have to go straight away?" He groaned.

"Sorry," I shrugged.

We stopped and faced each other just in the entrance.

My mum would be here soon after picking up Mikey.

"Well, I'll miss you. I'm not sure how I'll survive two whole weeks without you but I'll try," He winked.

"I'll miss you too," I said.

He pulled me back into a hug and looked at me.

"Hey," He looked up briefly, "Look what we have here."

I followed his gaze.

The entrance to the Cathedral had been decorated with different decorations.

Most were fake plants.

"You do know that those are holly leaves right?" I laughed.

"Yeah, I do but let's just pretend that it's mistletoe."

"So what you're saying is: you want to kiss me under holly pretending to be mistletoe?" I smirked.

He smiled guiltily, "Maybe..."

"Hmm..." I pretended to think.

"Please?" He stuck out his bottom lip, "Do I have to beg?"

"Let's not go to extremes," I held back a laugh, "But okay, I suppose I'll kiss you. Just because you asked so nicely."

He grinned before leaning in.

My breath caught in my throat when his lips touched mine.

I loved kissing him.

Especially when he had his arms around me, holding me close.

His lips moved against mine slowly as if he was making it last.

It was like he was trying to memorise the movement of my lips.

Eventually, he pulled away and smiled at me again.

"I would normally carry on but I'm a little uncomfortable making out in the doorway of Jesus," He laughed.

"I don't think this is 'the doorway of Jesus' but yeah, I get what you mean," I replied.

After a moment, his smile vanished and he sighed.

"What is it?" I asked.

He let go of me but kept ahold of my hand.

"I should go. Your mum will be here soon."

I felt bad then.

"I'm sorry I haven't told her yet," I looked down.

"Hey, it's okay. I honestly don't mind. We've been together what? Two months? Tell her when you're ready."

I smiled, "Thanks, Frank."

"No problem," He shrugged.

I felt bad but he always had a way of reassuring me that things were fine.

"I'll see you then," He leant in and kissed me on the cheek, "Maybe we could have daily phone calls or some shit."

I nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good."

He let go of my hand and smiled before turning away and starting down the road.

I watched him until he turned the corner and was out of sight.

I sighed.

Two weeks without him.

Torture.


	32. Fallout

{Gerard's POV}

 

I was a little nervous.

I hadn't seen Frank in two weeks.

It was the first day back at school after the Christmas holidays.

I hadn't seen anyone during the holidays because I was away for basically all of it.

I still talked to Frank though.

He had called me every day in the evening.

It was nice to have daily phone calls.

It felt very... Coupley.

I liked it.

But now the holidays were over and it was time to go back to school.

That kinda sucked but at least I could see Frank again.

Also, band rehearsals could start up again.

Two weeks was a long time.

I'd missed our sessions after school.

I straightened my tie and ran a hand through my hair before leaving my room.

Mikey and my mum were downstairs in the kitchen.

After pulling on my shoes and bag, I put my head around the door.

"Bye, mum. See you later."

"Have a good day."

"Thanks, mum."

And then I left.

I walked quickly to school with Green Day blaring in my ears.

It was still pretty cold.

Nearly everyone was there when I got through the gates.

I scanned the group of my friends for Frank.

He saw me the exact moment my eyes found him.

A smile as wide as his face appeared.

I smiled sheepishly back as he strode over to me.

When he was in front of me, he held both of my hands in his.

"I missed you," He breathed.

"I-I missed you too," I murmured.

He didn't say anything else.

Instead, he pulled me closer and his lips met mine.

I'd forgotten how amazing it was to kiss him.

It felt so good to be able to kiss him again.

Even though it had only been two weeks, it felt like I hadn't seen him in forever.

"Get a room!" We heard behind us.

Frank pulled away and winked at me.

I blushed a little.

As usual.

Taylor practically flew up to us then.

She gave us massive hugs and was saying, "I missed you guys so much! How was your Christmas? Mine was awesome! Oh! Next time we should all do something together!"

"Yeah, maybe," Frank managed to cut her off, "Christmas was alright. Missed the shit out of this guy though."

He looked at me and grinned.

I couldn't help but smile back.

"Aww, you guys!" Taylor practically squealed.

The bell went then and after groaning a little, we all went our separate ways to form.

Maisie didn't even greet me.

We just walked in silence.

This was really beginning to piss me off now.

I needed to talk to her about it.

When we were in form, we sat at our usual table.

Maisie rarely spoke in form anymore so that meant that we were more or less silent all the time.

I originally had tried to start up conversations but she never carried them on so I eventually gave up.

This time though, she was answering me.

I would make sure she would.

I wanted to get to the bottom of this.

"Hey, Mai?" I looked at her.

She looked up for a second before looking away again.

"Can't you even look at me?" I frowned.

She just shrugged, her eyes on the table.

"Look, have I done something? It's been weeks now and you still won't talk to me."

She sighed but still didn't look at me.

"Maisie? What's going on?!"

"It's nothing!" She finally looked up, "Okay?!"

"No, it's not okay," I ran a hand through my hair, "Why are you acting like this?"

"I can't tell you," She went quiet.

"Why not?"

"I just can't, okay?"

I didn't say anything.

She was looking at the table again.

"This has been going on for months now. Just tell me what it is," I sighed.

She shook her head.

"Fine then," I gave up, "I just thought we were best friends that's all. We used to tell each other everything."

I was thankful for the bell ringing at that point.

I got up and walked to Music on my own.

I was done with this.

Frank was already there as usual when I got to the classroom.

He smiled at me when he saw me and I tried to smile back.

"What's up?" He frowned as I sat down across from him.

I took my things out of my bag, "Kinda fell out with Maisie."

"What? On the first day back? It's not even break yet. What happened?"

I sighed, "I'm just tired of her ignoring me for no reason now. She barely talks to me anymore."

"Yeah, I've noticed that," Frank said, "Is that not how she is normally then?"

"No. This isn't like her at all."

I noticed her then.

She entered the classroom and headed straight to another table.

She didn't even look in our direction.

"Have you asked her what's up?" Frank got my attention again.

"Yeah. That's what caused us to fall out. I got annoyed. She said she can't tell me why she's acting like that. I don't understand. She doesn't normally keep things like this from me."

"I'm sure it's nothing," Frank said but Mrs Wells started talking so he had to stop.

Throughout Music, my mind kept wandering back to Maisie and our small argument.

I really wanted to know what this was all about but I couldn't keep pestering her.

I needed to get to the bottom of this though.

The rest of the day passed by painfully slow to say the least.

That was usually the case with first days back after breaks.

Things would get back to normal soon enough though.

Frank hugged me when we got to the gate at the end of the day.

"You're still worried aren't you?" He pulled away.

I nodded and looked at the floor.

"Hey," He nudged me lightly.

I looked at him.

"It'll be fine," He smiled, "Try not to worry so much."

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Look, I'll call you later. Just don't beat yourself up."

I tried to smile, "I won't."

He was about to lean in when he stopped himself and looked away.

"I'll uh see you tomorrow," He started to walk away.

I frowned after him, "What?"

He looked back and indicated behind me with a nod of his head.

I turned to see Mikey coming towards me.

Oh.

I forgot that we were trying to hide from him.

I looked back in Frank's direction to see him wink at me before walking off.

"Hey."

Mikey appeared in front of me.

"Hey," I smiled.

He raised an eyebrow, "Are you planning on going home or...?"

"Yeah, let's go."

We started walking to the road and crossed it.

Neither of us spoke for a bit.

That was until Mikey said, "So. How was catching up with Frank after the holidays?"

I shrugged, "Yeah, good."

He nodded, "Cool. You guys are pretty close, huh?"

"Uh yeah," I wasn't really listening.

We were coming up towards the alley.

I stared at it as Mikey said, "Very, very close."

I didn't say anything.

We passed the alley and right on cue, I saw Lewis and a couple of his friends walk out and lean against the wall.

Lewis grinned and waved at me.

I looked straight ahead.

Thank fuck Mikey was with me.

We passed them and were in the clear.

"Gerard?"

"Hm?" I looked at him.

"I said, it's interesting how close you guys are."

"Who are?" I frowned.

Mikey rolled his eyes, "Weren't you listening to me?"

"I uh... Sorry, no."

"You and Frank."

I caught on, "Oh, yeah. We are close, yeah."

"I just thought it was interesting how close you guys actually are," He said.

"What do you mean...?" I suddenly grew cautious.

"Look," He stopped walking which meant I did too.

He faced me, "I know there's something going on between you and Frank."

A pang of fear hit me.

"What do you mean?" My voice was quiet.

"You guys are more than just friends. Am I right?"

I opened my mouth to speak but closed it again.

I had no idea what to say.

This was out of the blue.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Mikey stared me down, "It was getting pretty obvious."

"Obvious?" I managed to squeak.

"Yeah," He shrugged, "You guys flirt a lot."

I blushed at that comment.

I hadn't thought we were flirting at all but everyone else seemed to think otherwise.

"So are you guys together? Or just in that awkward stage between friendship and couple status?"

"I uh..." He had really caught me off guard with this conversation.

"Oh and also," He smirked, "You do know that everyone's talking about the 'gay guys in year eleven'."

I went even more red, "People are still talking?"

He nodded, "Yeah. So it is about you guys then?"

Well, shit.

I felt so awkward.

Especially as he was looking me straight in the face.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

I looked at him again.

"I uh... I'm sorry. I was embarrassed."

"Why?"

"I thought you'd feel ashamed or something," I admitted, "I thought you wouldn't want to talk to me again."

"Ashamed? Gee, I'd never feel ashamed. You're my big brother. Sure, you're annoying as hell sometimes but I'd never stop talking to you."

That made me feel better.

I smiled a little, "Thanks, Mikes."

"No problem," He shrugged.

I grabbed him and hugged him.

"Okay," He awkwardly patted me on the back, "There's no need for that."

"I love you, Mikes."

"Gerard," He tried to pull away from me, "We're in the middle of the street."

I smirked and pulled away.

Same old Mikey.

We started walking again slowly.

I couldn't believe how well he had taken it.

Why had I worried so much?

It felt like a huge weight had been lifted of of my shoulders.

"Just let me know next time you have a secret boyfriend," He joked.


	33. Just a Dirty Queer

{Gerard's POV}

 

I swear I had stopped breathing.

I was frozen.

I willed my legs to move but they didn't.

Lewis grinned at me as his friends blocked my only exit.

They were behind me as well.

How many fucking friends did he have?!

"Hey!" Lewis beamed, "How's it going? Long time no see."

I didn't speak of course.

Why would I?

"How have you been doing? We haven't talked properly in ages!"

Not expecting a reply, he carried on, "So... I'm a little pissed about something."

I swallowed slowly.

I hadn't done anything, had I?

That was the thing, I didn't have to do anything for them to turn it on me.

"The time we had a... Little business to deal with... We were interrupted. Do you remember?"

Was he...

Was he talking about the time Frank had scared them off?

When he had beaten me up?

Yes, I remember vividly funnily enough.

I nodded slightly.

"Good, you remember," He smiled, "Who was it that interrupted us?"

I didn't answer.

I wasn't brave enough to speak.

I just stood there like a lemon.

"Your boyfriend, right? What's his name?"

Lewis started walking a bit closer towards me.

No way was I telling them.

I wasn't having them use him as a form of abuse as well.

Why did they want to know anyway?

This had no relevance to anything.

Lewis just liked to take this piss out of my sexuality.

"I said... What's his name?" Lewis' tone grew darker, "Tell us."

He was standing right in front of me now.

I'd only just noticed how tall he actually was.

A lot taller than me.

I mean, a lot.

"Tell us," He clenched his teeth.

I still didn't speak.

I was fucking rooted to the spot with no voice.

Lewis looked at the guys behind me and nodded.

They suddenly grabbed me and practically dragged me into the alley.

I struggled against their grip but there were three of them.

And they were strong.

When we were hidden from the rest of the world, they pushed me against the wall.

My shoulder smacked against it and I winced in pain.

"Now," Lewis and the others were in front of me, "Tell us his fucking name."

I still didn't speak.

He strode up in front of me and held up a fist, saying, "His name!"

I looked away and shocked myself by squeaking, "Frank."

Shit.

I slowly looked back up to see him lowering his hand.

"Nice name," Lewis smirked, "Too bad it isn't going to work out for you guys."

Against my better judgement, I frowned.

What was that supposed to mean?

"Oh yeah! We haven't told you yet," Lewis laughed a little and exchanged some glances with his cronies.

I was really confused now.

What was happening?

"We, me and the lads, have decided that it's time for your little 'relationship' to hit a bump in the road."

Uh... What?

What was a 'bump in the road'?

Lewis was still grinning, "Your relationship is wrong. It's sick. It's time for it to end. Time for you to rid us of your fucking relationship with that bender."

I uh... What?

"You're going to break up with him, okay?"

Was he serious?

"What?" I mumbled.

"Are you deaf?" Lewis' voice raised slightly, "You have to break up with him."

This made no sense.

"Why?" I was so confused.

"Because it's wrong, you idiot! Didn't you here me the first time?" Lewis laughed.

His friends started laughing as well.

I didn't know what to say.

They wanted me to break up with Frank?

This was completely random.

"Also," A glint of something appeared in his eye, "He's messing with our fun."

Fun?

Did he mean the beating up?

Yeah, that was so much fun...

There was no way I was breaking up with Frank for them.

No way.

I liked him way too much.

"No..." I said quietly.

I regretted it immediately.

"What was that?" Lewis frowned.

I glued my mouth shut.

I shouldn't have said that.

"Was that a no?" He continued.

He looked at the others, "Was that a no he said, lads?"

They all started nodding.

Crap.

"Interesting," Lewis turned back to me.

I watched as he slowly started walking towards me.

When he was looming right over me, he said, "You're going to break up with him."

He spoke each word slowly and calmly.

"You're going to break up with him. If you don't... You'll wish you had."

What was that supposed to mean?

It still scared the shit out of me though.

"If you don't... We'll know. And we will be waiting for you."

Great.

I felt like I was in some stupid film.

I felt like this was the part where the plot goes dark.

The part before the happy ending.

But this wasn't a film.

This was real life.

There were no happy endings in real life.

"You don't deserve to be happy."

He smiled sickly, "You're just a dirty queer."

That stung.

A lot.

"Understand?" Lewis's eyes sparkled again.

I nodded slowly.

He smiled, "Good."

He backed up slightly and turned to his friends.

"Come on, guys. We're done here."

They started leading out of the alley.

Lewis looked back at me, "You have until Friday."

Friday?

That was only three days away!

Are you kidding me?!

"Bye, queer!" Lewis called as he went out of sight.

I felt my legs go from under me and I collapsed onto the ground.

This wasn't happening.

Why was it that when anything good happened or life was actually being decent for once it all had to go shitty again?

There was always something to counteract everything happy.

I guess that was just my luck.

Maybe I just wasn't meant to be happy.

I was better off sad and alone.

A few silent tears made their way down my face.

I didn't bother to brush them away.

I hadn't cried in a long time.

Guess I had been too happy.

That was obviously about to change though.

Why did they want me to break up with him?

I knew why.

They wanted to make my life as miserable as possible and Frank was getting in the way of that.

But I couldn't...

I just couldn't break up with him.

He was the reason I got up in the morning.

If I didn't have him, I'd have no one.

How was I supposed to break up with him?


	34. Breakup?

{Gerard's PO}

 

I had to do it.

I had to.

If I didn't, they would find out.

They would find out and they would hurt me.

I knew they would.

But... I just couldn't.

I couldn't break up with Frank.

He was my everything.

All of this was stressing me out.

It was pulling me down.

Pulling me back down into that pit.

The darkness was coming back.

It was taking over me.

Slowly, it was engulfing me.

I was falling down again.

Down that pit.

Fuck, I hated that pit.

I had spent only two days thinking about it all but that was enough to freak me out.

It didn't help that those stupid thoughts were coming back as well.

I didn't need those on top of everything else.

Things had been going fine.

And now...

Now, I was feeling bad again.

All because of Lewis telling me to break up with my boyfriend.

I couldn't do that.

I just couldn't.

It was Thursday night and I was practically shaking with worry.

Tomorrow was the last day I had.

I couldn't do it.

I just couldn't.

But if I didn't...

Oh, God.

I looked down at my jumper sleeves.

I thought it over in my head.

Was I feeling bad enough to relapse?

It had been two months and three days.

Nearly as long as I had known Frank.

Funny that.

No.

I wouldn't do that.

I couldn't subject myself to that again.

Although, I couldn't trust myself not to.

I needed company.

Now.

Before I thought about it too much, I grabbed my phone and put it to my ear.

It rung five times until:

"Hello?"

"Could you come over?" I bit my lip, "I uh... I need some company. And um... I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, sure," He replied, "I'll be over in ten."

"Thanks," I hung up.

Frank made me feel better.

I'd be happy again when he showed up.

But...

I needed to break up with him.

I didn't want to but I needed to.

It wasn't that I was being selfish.

The main reason I was making myself do this was because I was scared Lewis would try to hurt me by hurting Frank.

I wasn't having that.

Lewis could do all he wanted to me but hurting Frank in any way wasn't one I was allowing.

"Gerard!" I heard from downstairs fifteen minutes later, "Frank's here!"

I waited and listened as Frank came up the stairs and opened my door.

He smiled when he saw me and I sheepishly smiled back.

"Hey," He shut the door behind him, "You okay?"

I started to nod but stopped when I noticed the tears welling in my eyes.

I wasn't okay.

"Gee?" He frowned as he walked up to my bed.

"I..." The tears fell out of my eyes, "I'm sorry... I..."

That was when I broke.

I curled up into a ball on my bed.

I made myself as small as possible.

"Fuck... Gee, what's wrong?"

I felt bad for breaking down in front of him but I couldn't stop myself.

I didn't want to move.

My eyes were squeezed shut.

I didn't want to be here anymore.

The bed shifted next to me.

"Gee, what's wrong? Please speak to me."

I was aware how much I was crying.

He was stroking my hair slowly.

It was soothing but I still felt horrible.

"Please, talk to me. You're scaring me."

The concern in his voice was controlled but still there.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at him.

Worry was shown plain across his face.

"Gerard," He sighed when he saw that I was crying, "Come here."

He opened his arms and I threw myself into him.

I clung onto him.

He wrapped his arms around me and started stroking my hair again.

"I'm sorry..." I managed to whisper.

"Why?" His arms tightened around me, "What's happened?"

I didn't want to say.

I couldn't say.

"Tell me, Gee," He moved me so he could see me, "I'm really worried."

I sat up a bit more and looked at the floor.

"I uh..."

I didn't know how to begin.

I wasn't sure whether I should mention it.

"Has something happened?" He asked.

This was a dilemma.

I had two options.

Either, break up with him or tell him about the threatening.

I didn't know what to choose.

It was tearing me apart on the inside.

"Gerard. You can trust me," His hand landed on top of one of mine.

I looked down at it.

He squeezed gently as an act of reassurance.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"I have to break up with you," I whispered.

Okay... I'd gone with that option apparently.

I felt his hand disappear off of mine and I looked up.

His expression was a mixture of confusion and hurt.

"...Why?" His voice was quiet and slightly shaky.

It killed me.

"I just..." I tried to control my breathing, "I uh..."

I didn't know what to say.

"Have I done something?"

"No! Not at all!"

"Then what is it?" His voice was still small.

I felt really bad.

I needed to make him feel better.

"It's not like I want to," I rubbed my eyes.

"What?"

I froze.

Which option was I going with here?

"You don't want to what?" He asked.

"Uh..." There was no way I couldn't tell him now.

"You said you have to break up with me," He sounded contemplative, "But... You don't want to?"

I didn't speak.

I watched him as he fiddled with his hands, thinking.

Eventually, he looked at me again, "Gerard... Do you want to end our relationship? If you do, I'll respect that and I'll leave this room now. But... I'm not sure you do. Do you?"

I opened my mouth and closed it again.

What could I say?

"Do you, Gerard?"

I looked down, "No..."

I couldn't lie to him about that.

I heard him sigh quietly in relief.

"Then what's this about?" He asked, "Why do you have to if you don't want to?"

I looked at him again, "He uh... He told me to."

"Who did?" Frank frowned.

I decided against that, "No one. It's nothing."

"It's obviously not," He ran a hand through his hair, "Who told you to break up with me? What's going on?"

I shook my head and lay back on the bed, my head resting on my pillow.

He sighed again before lying down next to me and holding my hand.

"Have people been bothering you again?"

"No..." I lied.

"Gerard," He turned his head so he was looking at me, "Are you being bothered?"

I looked at him too.

"Well... Maybe..."

"Gerard," He groaned slightly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to get involved," I admitted.

"Why? You're my boyfriend. I can't just sit around while you're being pestered by some dicks."

I didn't say anything so he asked, "Is it the same guys as before?"

I nodded.

"I'll fucking kill them," He suddenly growled.

"Frank-"

"No!" He cut me off, "If they think they can mess with you, they can fucking think again-"

"Frank!" I cupped his cheek with my free hand.

He stayed silent and looked at me.

"They just cornered me the other day and told me to break up with you, that's all."

"Why?" He frowned.

I thought fast, "I don't know. Just trying to upset me I guess. They're all talk."

"But they're not, Gee. I saw them hurting you."

"They haven't since," I found myself lying again, "You scared them from doing that. All they're trying to do is upset me."

Frank made an irritated noise under his breath before letting go of my hand and wrapping his arm around me instead.

I cuddled up next to him and rested my head on his chest.

"I'll sort all of this out, don't worry."

"No, Frank," I looked up at him.

"What?" He frowned.

"You're not getting involved."

"Nothing will happen. I'll just tell them to leave you the fuck alone."

"I'm serious, Frank."

He sighed, "Fine. But if they bother you again, tell me."

I nodded against his chest even though I knew I wouldn't tell him.

"Why did they even tell you to break up with me? That makes no sense."

I didn't answer.

I was tired.

Crying and freaking the fuck out takes it out of you.

I closed my eyes and relaxed.

I knew that Lewis wouldn't be happy but at this moment, I was.

I was with Frank.

He kissed me on the forehead and whispered, "I won't let them hurt you again. I promise."


	35. This Can't Be It

{Gerard's POV}

 

Monday.

How the fuck was it Monday?

Lewis had said that I had until Friday to break up with Frank.

But when it got to Friday, they were no where to be seen.

I had actually considered not going to school I was so freaked out by Friday.

But it turned out that I had nothing to worry about.

They weren't waiting for me before or after school.

So what did that mean?

Had they given up?

Were they finally leaving me alone?

I doubted that.

They got too much of a kick out of making my life a misery.

They wouldn't leave me alone anytime soon.

Still, I stayed inside all weekend.

Frank came over of course to see if I was okay.

I assured him that I was but I don't think he believed me.

I wouldn't either to be honest.

By Monday I was actually lulled into a false sense of security.

I actually thought that I was okay.

I thought everything would be fine.

Well... All I can say is:

I can be such a fucking idiot sometimes.

It was still cold, being January and everything.

For once, I was thankful for these stupid blazers.

They were pretty thick and were a good shield from the cold wind.

I left for school at the usual time.

I used to leave so I only had a couple of minutes at school before the bell rang for form.

I was never much of a social person, especially in the mornings.

But since I had gotten together with Frank, I made sure I had at least ten minutes with him in the morning.

Funny what relationships do to you.

Your whole outlook on life changes; becomes better somehow.

It was a welcome change from the shitty way I used to see things.

So, on that Monday, I left my house at about five past eight.

I buried my neck in my blazer collar, put my headphones in and pressed shuffle.

The first song to come up was I Miss You by Blink 182.

I usually listened to heavier songs on the way to school but that song was welcome that morning and I listened to it as I shuffled along the pavement.

"Don't waste your time on me, you're already a voice inside my 'ead," I sang along in my own head.

I was a pretty fast walker.

I had recently had a growth spurt and I was nearly taller than Frank.

That meant I was able to walk pretty quickly.

I didn't exactly live far from school anyway.

It was about a fifteen minute walk and that was if I was dawdling.

I made my way down the long road to the end where my hell of a school was situated.

I was onto another song now:

Lithium by Nirvana.

Good band.

Good song too.

I was also coming up to the alley.

I wasn't exactly on full alert though.

Which was pretty stupid of me because of course as soon as I came near it, they appeared.

As soon as I saw them, I turned my music off and hid my headphones in my pocket along with my phone.

I couldn't risk them stealing it or breaking it.

"Queer!" Lewis greeted me with a grin on his face, "How's it going?"

There were about seven other guys with him.

That was a lot more than usual.

I was frozen on the spot as usual.

I only occasionally saw them in the morning so what were they doing here?

My sense of security had long gone now.

"I'm gonna get straight to the point," Lewis moved closer towards me, "We all have places to be and people to see. We don't usually meet up this early. We did just for you. Feeling lucky?"

Of course not.

I felt damn right unlucky.

This was so unfair.

I was getting sick and tired of this now.

It was getting really repetitive.

After my lack of reply, he continued, "So... Did you break up with that bender?"

A hint of anger went through me.

I hated it when he called Frank names.

He could call me whatever he wanted but spewing abuse towards Frank was going too far.

"Don't call him that," I whispered.

Lewis raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

"I said," What the fuck was I doing? "Don't call him that."

"Ooh! Calm down, Princess. We were only having a laugh."

'Having a laugh'.

Nice. Thanks.

"Fine. Did you break up with Frank," Lewis rolled his eyes.

I was quite surprised he had remembered his name.

Interesting.

He was being unusually nicer today.

As in, not yelling or beating on me.

Not yet at least.

I didn't say or do anything.

Lewis took this onboard and sighed loudly.

He turned to his friends.

"I asked him to do one thing, Lads. And did he do it? No. What a shame."

Evil smirks slowly appeared on the boys around us.

What was going on?

I was growing aware that something wasn't right.

This was all too rehearsed.

What was happening?

Lewis looked back at me and smiled as well, "Oh, Gerard. Gerard, Gerard, Gerard."

This was the first time he had actually used my proper name since he had made me tell him it all those months ago when I'd first come across them.

I was surprised he remembered it.

"Why didn't you break up with him? I asked you to."

Funnily enough, I actually want to be happy that's why.

I should have lied and said I had broken up with him.

However, I was a crappy liar and I didn't do well under pressure.

They would see right through me.

"You really should have," His voice was full of mock sympathy.

He then whistled under his breath and two of his friends grabbed me.

Holy shit, hang on.

I should have been expecting that really.

My eyes widened and I tried to break free.

They clung onto my arms.

While our little domestic took place, Lewis faked a yawn and led the others into the alley.

The boys who had ahold of me tried to drag me in there as well.

However, I found confidence out of no where and managed to pull one of my arms free.

The guy who was holding it before tried to grab back on but I turned around and, using strength I didn't know I had, kicked him right between the legs.

His eyes widened and his hands immediately moved down to his precious area.

While he was occupied, I turned to the other guy.

He looked shocked at my action and I used this moment of hesitation to rip my arm out of his grip and pushed him.

He stumbled backwards and struggled to regain his balance.

Now was my chance.

I turned around and shot off.

Behind me, I heard, "You, Twats! After him!"

Soon, the pavement behind me was full of loud footsteps.

I ran as fast as I could until I got to the crossing.

There was no way I could stop and risk my safety.

Although, my safety definitely would have been compromised if I had been hit by a car.

I carried on across the road, narrowly missing a silver car that beeped at me.

The school was just there.

Just a little further.

I was almost at the gates.

I was going to make it.

I actually was!

That was until...

Two sets of hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back.

I gasped as I was thrown down onto the floor.

Luckily, my backpack broke my fall.

Thank God I didn't have anything valuable in there.

Lewis was towering over me.

He looked down at me and shook his head.

"Did you really think that was gonna work?"

He spat at me.

The gob of spit barely missed my hair and landed on the pavement next to me.

I didn't dare to move.

They had formed a circle around me.

There were no exists.

Lewis looked around.

"There," He pointed to somewhere outside my line of sight, "Shove him over there."

More hands pulled me back up roughly and directed me harshly towards a wall.

It was actually the wall next to my school's gate.

I could see some students making their way in.

They ignored us though.

They didn't want to get involved

I didn't blame them really.

I was shoved against the wall and thrown into the corner, out of sight from most people.

Only people passing would be able to see us now.

Although, they probably wouldn't be able to see me.

Not while I was hidden behind six foot giants.

Lewis was in front of me and a semi-circle of his friends formed around us, trapping me in the corner.

I was really done for now.

"You're such a fucking retard," Lewis laughed, "Did you really think you would be able to escape us?"

I lowered my head in shame.

For a moment, I actually thought I could have.

"Look at me."

I didn't move.

I honestly felt so scared.

"Look at me!" He yelled in my face.

I recoiled against his words and looked up.

He grinned, an evil glint in his eyes.

"So," He was saying, "You didn't break up with your boyfriend. For that, you need to be punished."

Punished?

Did that mean more bruises?

He moved away from me but then came back with his fist.

It hit me straight in the gut and I doubled over in pain.

Yes then; it did mean more bruises.

The guys around us started laughing at me.

What was so funny?

I couldn't see the amusement myself.

Lewis then pulled my head back up by my hair, which hurt a lot, and connected his fist with my cheek.

I actually saw spit fly out of my mouth from the impact of the punch.

The funny thing is, while this was going on, all I was worried about was him breaking my nose.

I didn't want a broken nose that would be wonky forever.

What a stupid thing to worry about at a time like this.

Lewis was grinning at his friends and enjoying their reactions.

He really got a kick of out this, didn't he?

Kinda sad really.

I looked from under my hair at him.

He was facing me again and his grin was gone.

It was replaced with a slight smirk and the evil look in his eyes was even worse.

What was he going to do?

Was there much else he could do?

A few punches here and there.

But then...

But then I saw the flash of silver in his hand.

Against my better judgement, I looked at what he had in his right hand.

A knife.

Of fucking course.

I internally sighed, wondering why I hadn't thought of this before.

Then, I was taken over by fear.

Fear of pain and death.

I frantically looked around.

There was no where for me to go.

I was completely isolated from the outside world.

Lewis was coming towards me again, slowly turning the blade in his fingers.

I saw blood trip from his thumb.

Fucking hell, he was a complete psycho!

"Your punishment," He held up the knife, laughing.

How had he turned from a normal, homophobic bully to a blood-thirsty lunatic in five minutes?

I didn't question it.

Only one thing was on my mind.

I was going to die and I knew it.

Quite ironic really.

I had spent a lot of my life scared of death and now here it was, staring me in the face.

And I almost welcomed it.

Only slightly though.

I knew I wasn't ready to die.

Not yet.

I had to get out of here.

I attempted to run past Lewis but he grabbed me with his other arm and threw me back against the wall.

It was at that moment when I noticed I was crying.

Had I been crying this whole time?

I had no idea.

All I knew was that big silent tears were falling down my face.

Lewis pinned me against the wall; putting his left arm across my chest.

I struggled against his grip but he was too strong for me.

He lifted the knife up, in front of my face.

I stared at it.

It was larger than a pocket knife but still small.

How could something that size take away something as large and significant as a life?

Although, my life wasn't very significant.

"Time to say goodbye," Lewis grinned, "Too bad you won't see that boyfriend of yours again."

I could have as he was just the other side of this wall.

Oh, the irony.

"Any last words?" Lewis laughed, intending it to be a joke since I never really spoke to him.

I had some final words all right.

And right now, I had nothing to lose anymore.

There was something I had been wanting to tell him for a while now.

I looked Lewis in the eye and said, slowly and quietly, "Fuck. You."

His smile vanished and he clenched his jaw.

The last thing I heard was him saying, "You dirty queer," before it happened.

He stabbed me.

Right between the ribs.

My eyes widened in the shock of the pain.

I had never experienced anything like it.

He pulled the knife out and that hurt even more.

I felt my body going into panic mode.

I was sweating and my hands were shaking.

He did it again.

And again.

I counted five times.

After the fifth stab, he pulled the knife out and wiped the blood on my blazer.

I was in so much pain that when he pulled away from me, I crumpled to the ground like a piece of paper.

Lying on my side, all I saw were Lewis' shoes heading in the other direction.

"Come on, guys," He was saying, "We showed him who's boss. Let's go before someone comes."

I listened to their departing footsteps as they left me for dead.

I clutched my stomach.

This was so fucking painful and I didn't know what to do.

My body seemed to be shutting down.

My vision was slowly deteriorating and I was shaking violently.

This couldn't be it.

This couldn't be the end.

I wouldn't let it be.

Using what little strength I had left, I pushed myself onto my hands and knees and stayed like that for a moment, focussing on my breathing.

Don't give up on me, lungs.

I then crawled to the wall and used it to pull myself up slowly.

I was quite surprised that I still managed to stand slightly steady.

Using the wall to stay upright, I weakly made my way along the wall until I reached the end.

I hoped to God that the bell hadn't gone yet.

Although, I hadn't heard it yet.

I rounded the corner and saw the gate about ten feet ahead of me.

I could see students on the playground, waiting for the bell to ring.

If he was where he usually was, Frank would be across the playground on the edge with the rest of our friends.

After taking a few deep breaths, I walked along the wall again.

My left hand felt along the wall while my right kept pressure on my wound.

I could feel blood pumping out and I was sure that my hand and sleeve were very nearly soaked.

I was feeling weaker by the second so it took longer to walk along this side of the wall.

By the time I made it to the actual gate, the bell went.

"No!" I thought, "Someone has to see me!"

The students nearest to me turned away just in time to miss me.

I had run out of wall to hold onto as I staggered onto the playground.

Getting even weaker, I only managed to make it about five feet before I collapsed onto the floor.

I fell onto my knees as they gave way from under me.

No one had seen me, had they?

They were all heading to form.

I looked down to see blood dripping onto the concrete under me.

That was when I fell onto my side and blacked out.


	36. Gerard...?

{Frank's POV}

 

The bell went, signalling the start of the school day.

Something wasn't right though.

Where was Gerard?

He was usually here by now.

"Coming, Frank?"

I looked up to see Taylor smiling at me.

"Um. Yeah," I started following her and the others to form.

I was feeling slightly anxious as to why Gerard hadn't shown up yet but there was probably nothing to worry about.

He was probably just late or ill or something.

If he was ill though he would have told me.

So was he late?

I decided that worrying wasn't going to do anything so I tried to get myself to stop.

That was until I happened to glance at the gate.

The gate I had watched Gerard enter about a hundred times.

I froze on the spot, staring.

Was that...?

I squinted my eyes as I focussed on the person lying on the floor.

Soon, I was taking large strides towards them.

Taylor called behind me but I ignored her.

By the time I was halfway across the playground, I was sure it was Gerard.

I dropped my back and started running.

He was lying on his side, obviously having passed out.

What the fuck...?

When I was about ten feet away from him, I saw it.

The blood.

I felt my heart in my throat as I skidded down next to him.

"Gerard?!"

He didn't acknowledge me, his eyes still closed.

I pushed him carefully onto his back and my eyes widened at the steadily growing stain of blood on his shirt.

It wasn't stopping.

What the fuck had happened to him?!

Who did this?!

I looked behind me to see Taylor, Maisie and a few of our friends running towards us.

Turning back to Gerard, I tried to find his pulse on his neck.

My hand was shaking slightly as I did this.

After a few attempts, I found it; weak and slow, but still there.

Thank fuck.

Taylor and the others were by us then.

"Oh my god!" Taylor gasped.

I looked up at them.

"Don't just fucking stand there! Get a teacher! Call an ambulance! Do fucking something!"

The panic was slowly beginning to build.

Especially as Gerard was still unconscious.

Taylor ran off to get a teacher while Dan called 999.

I thought back quickly to any hospital or cop shows I had watched.

What was the best thing to do in a situation like this?!

Apply pressure to the wound to slow down the bleeding.

I hastily placed both my hands over the source of the bleeding and pressed down, sitting on my knees.

It wasn't long until my hands started to get sticky with blood.

Blood.

My boyfriend's blood.

The reality set in then.

Someone had hurt Gerard.

He wouldn't do this to himself and then come to school.

Someone had hurt Gerard and left him for dead.

Anger built up inside me until I realised that this was really happening.

What if-

No.

But-

What if he didn't make it?

I wouldn't let that happen.

He was my whole world.

Without him, I may as well be dead too.

I pressed down harder on his stomach.

By now, students had appeared, having heard the news.

Various teachers made sure they all stood back so there was a semi-circle forming behind me and Gerard, a gap between us and the small crowd.

A couple of teachers tried to come and help or pull me away but I let them know what I thought of that by telling them to piss off.

For some weird reason, they left me to it, waiting for the ambulance.

It was at about that time when Gerard's eyes fluttered open.

"F-Frank...?"

I looked at his face, relief flooding through me.

"Gee! It's okay! You're going to be okay!"

He looked incredibly pale and that scared me.

He didn't look right.

My hands were getting close to soaked in blood and so were parts of my blazer sleeves.

He noticed this and his eyes widened in panic.

"I- He stabbed me! Frank- I-" His voice rose in fear, "It hurts to breathe-! It hurts, Frank-"

"Shhh!" I tried to calm him down.

Panicking wasn't going to help the already distressing situation.

"Everything will be fine! I'm here," I leant down and kissed him on the forehead, "An ambulance is on it's way. Just stay with me, Gerard."

He nodded slightly, growing drowsy again.

That wasn't a good sign.

"Just," I thought fast, "Keep talking to me. Take your mind off it."

I knew that was nearly impossible to do but I was running out of ideas.

"I'm sorry," He surprised me by saying.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for... For not telling you I was being bothered still. I just... I never thought it would get this bad."

I sighed quietly.

This whole ordeal could have been avoided all together.

It wasn't Gerard's fault though.

It was mine for not being a better boyfriend and looking out for him.

I had promised to look after him and failed miserably.

What was wrong with me?!

I really hated myself at that moment.

"It's fine, Gee," I tried to reassure him, although I was barely reassuring myself.

"It's not," He carried on, his voice barely more than a whisper, "I should have told you sooner."

I could feel the tears pricking in my eyes but I didn't care.

He was getting weaker by the second and I could see that.

The blood was overflowing onto the tarmac next to my knees.

This couldn't be happening.

Please tell me it wasn't happening.

Everything had been going so well.

I... I loved him.

"Focus on your breathing," I told him, hoping that would help in some way as it was usually included in these sort of things on TV.

It probably didn't do anything.

Still, it made it sound like I knew what I was doing.

I didn't want him worrying again.

Although, time was running out now.

There was too much blood.

There was too much blood for it to be okay.

It didn't help that he was practically transparent mixed with a sickly grey colour.

That wasn't natural at all.

The tears watering in my eyes threatened to spill.

I knew what was happening.

Where was the help?

What was taking so long?

Where the fuck was that fucking ambulance?!

"Thank you," He whispered weakly.

"For what?" I pushed down on his wound even more without trying to hurt him.

I knew it wasn't helping though.

"For everything," He smiled as best as he could.

He spoke as if these were his final moments.

Please, God, no.

They couldn't be.

I wouldn't let them be!

"Don't!" The tears had started to stream down my face, "You're not going to die, Gerard! I won't let you!"

I was speaking the truth.

As long as I was still breathing, I wouldn't let him stop.

He couldn't stop, he just couldn't.

"I'm scared," His eyes filled with tears.

When he said this, I realised how big my fear was too and even more tears fell.

I had to stay strong for him though so he could get through this.

But I couldn't lie to him.

I was fucking terrified.

"Me too," I breathed.

I didn't want him to be scared though.

I wanted everything to be alright.

Of course I didn't want this to be happening.

Who would?!

He suddenly started smiling sadly again.

"I love you, Frankie."

No.

Oh, fuck.

Did he really just say that?

Tears were falling from his eyes, down the sides of his face and onto the tarmac.

I could barely see him anymore from the blur of water in my eyes. 

"Oh, fuck, Gee... I love you too!"

He was crying even more now but still managed to keep a small smile on his lips.

I knew what was happening.

My Gerard was dying.

I heard sirens in the distance getting louder. 

They needed to hurry the fuck up already!

I leant down and pressed my lips to Gerard's. 

His were dry and chapped.

When I pulled back up, I smiled at him sadly and he returned it.

Then, his eyes got heavier. 

"I love you," He whispered again before his eyes fully closed.

No... No no no no no...

"Gerard...?"

No answer.

"Gerard?!"

He didn't move.

No... NO NO NO!!!

"GERARD!!!"

This couldn't be happening!!

I started full on sobbing and screaming at Gerard to stop messing about.

"Stop it! Wake up already! This isn't funny, Gee!"

I could hear sirens right next to us and people running over.

"Frank-"

I felt a set of hands on me.

"NO!"

I shrugged them off and placed my head against Gerard's chest and wrapped my arms around him, sobbing loudly.

The hands were back and another set accompanied them.

I was too weak with emotion to fight them off.

They practically picked me up and pulled me away from my unmoving boyfriend.

I yanked my shoulder out of one of the person's grip and collapsed back down onto the floor.

I watched as the paramedics picked up Gerard's lifeless body and placed him on a gurney, one of his arms hanging limply over the side.

Before too long, he was in the back of the ambulance.

I wanted to get up.

I wanted to follow him and get in the back with him but when I tried to get up, a stern hand kept me down.

"Stay here, Frank," A person above me said.

"NO!" I practically screamed at them, "FUCK OFF!!"

I was aware that I was causing a scene but I had a fucking right to!

Did it look like I cared that everyone was staring at me?!

I shoved the person out of the way and pulled myself back up onto my wobbly legs.

The person grabbed me again and turned me around to face them.

It was the school's head-teacher who I had met on my first day here.

"I'm going to phone your mum and you can go to the hospital with her. You can't get in the ambulance with him because you're not a blood relative," He told me with no emotion in his voice.

I ignored him and yanked my arm out of his grip, "Leave me alone!"

I turned back around to see the ambulance driving off.

"Gerard!" I yelled and attempted to run after it.

By the time I reached the gate, it had turned off onto the road, it's sirens blaring.

I fell back onto the floor and dropped my face down into my hands, sobbing violently.

This couldn't be happening.


	37. Silence

{Maisie's POV}

 

School was quiet without them.

It was weird and I wasn't sure I liked it very much.

Who was I kidding?

I didn't like it at all.

Everyone was quiet anyway but with them, it seemed almost dead.

Frank hadn't been to school for nearly two weeks now.

I had wondered how he got away with it but I wouldn't really want to go to school either if that had happened to me.

Well, it had kind of happened to me but Gerard and I had fallen out.

He was closer to Frank than me.

I had spent the good part of two weeks wishing I had made things up with Gerard.

I wished I had told him how I felt about him.

Before...

Before all this happened.

There was no way I could tell him now though.

Maybe that was a good thing.

I wasn't sure.

I hadn't decided yet.

All I know is that I missed my best friend.

Although, I hadn't been the greatest friend to him lately.

I had been selfish by blanking him.

All because it was too hard for me to see him with his boyfriend.

I was so pathetic sometimes.

I really should have told him why I was acting differently but I wasn't sure how he would have reacted.

I guess I won't know now.

Last Monday, my mum had called me downstairs to watch something on TV.

It was Gerard.

Gerard was on the News.

His story and his photo.

He looked slightly awkward in the photo but smiling away.

The photo had been badly cropped.

You could see part of Frank's hair and t-shirt on one side.

Maybe that was one of the last photos of him.

A picture of him and Frank together.

I kind of wished they had kept Frank in the picture

The police were on the hunt for whoever had hurt Gerard.

Unfortunately, no one knew who they were.

No one knew what they looked like.

I think Frank knew though.

He had been asked to give a statement by the police.

I didn't like seeing all of that on a Monday morning before breakfast.

It didn't feel right.

Things needed to go back to the way they were before.

I needed it to be normal again.

This wasn't right.

If nothing could be changed, I knew something that needed to happen:

Frank needed to come back to school.

I wasn't sure how he was.

In fact, no one knew how he was coping or if he even was.

Of course, everyone had tried to get in contact with him.

His Facebook and Twitter messages must have been building up by now.

He hadn't answered any of them or even looked at them.

All the messages had been delivered but not seen.

Even though I had never really warmed to Frank, I was slightly worried.

He wasn't the sort of person to ignore you.

He was always smiling and joking.

The silence was unnatural.

Especially for him.

I didn't blame him really.

I mean, how would you react if...

I couldn't even say it.

Everyone had been really put out because of it.

Breaks and lunchtimes always passed painfully slow when barely anyone spoke.

Even Taylor didn't know what to say.

The only subject people seemed to go with was Frank.

And of course, there was never any news on how he was.

A few days ago, we had come up with a plan to go and see him after school one day.

But that was soon scrapped when we realised that no one actually knew where he lived.

I don't think even Gerard had known where he lived.

I was the only person out of our friendship group that hadn't sent Frank a message.

That made me feel a little guilty but I wasn't sure what to say.

We had never really spoken before and, previously, I hadn't really liked him that much.

I knew I should though so I started a message on Facebook:

"Hey, Frank, it's Maisie. I've been kind of worrying about you lately and how you are. Well, everyone has really. Could you please let me, or anyone for that matter, know that you're okay. We really need to talk to you about, well, everything."

I knew it was a lost cause as soon as I sent it.

And I was right of course.

He didn't reply.


	38. "Fine"

{Frank's POV}

 

"Frank!"

I sighed and looked up to see Taylor throw her arms around me.

"Thank fuck! We've been so worried!"

I knew this was going to happen.

Maybe I should have answered all the messages everyone had sent me.

I had been a little too busy though.

"I'm fine," I mumbled.

I wasn't but whatever.

Did anyone even believe that lie anymore?

She pulled away, a sympathetic look on her face.

"I don't believe you. There's no way you're 'fine'."

I shrugged in reply.

There was no point in hiding it.

"How..." She looked unsure, "How is he? We don't know anything."

"He's doing better."

That God for that.

I was so fucking lucky that was true.

So fucking lucky.

I had actually thought that Gerard had died that day.

That was until my mum had shown up and taken me to the hospital.

The nurses told us that he was in a better state than we thought.

He had only passed out on the playground.

I admit now, I had overreacted a little at the time.

But I had a right to overreact.

I mean, you would too if you thought your boyfriend had died.

We were lucky that he didn't end up in a coma or something.

I had visited him every day for two weeks.

For some reason, my mum had let me bunk off school.

I wasn't questioning it and maybe she knew that if she had tried to make me go to school, I wouldn't have gone.

That was until now.

I couldn't be bothered to argue.

As long as Gerard was doing okay, I was fine with going back to school.

His doctor said that he had to be in there for at least a month so he wasn't going anywhere.

Taylor looked instantly relieved.

"Thank God," She sighed, "You could have told us! We've been worried sick!"

"Sorry," I mumbled, "I was too busy worrying myself."

'Worrying' was such an understatement.

I have never worried so much in my fucking life.

I tell you what, if you want to worry, get in a relationship.

I never used to worry about anything before I met Gerard.

He was my whole world and I constantly worried that he wasn't happy or regretted our relationship.

It was all bullshit I know but I couldn't help myself.

When you don't like yourself very much, it seems strange when someone else does.

And it also doesn't fucking help your anxiety if the centre of your universe, the love of your life gets fucking stabbed.

"So what's happening exactly?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts, "What?"

Taylor rolled her eyes, "With Gerard? What's happening?"

"Oh well, he has to stay in hospital for another few weeks and then spend a week or two off school. Then he can come back."

Maisie was at Taylor's side at this point.

"How is he, you know... Mentally?" She asked quietly.

That was another thing I was worrying about.

I mean, seriously, when wasn't I worrying at the moment?

I bit my lip, "Not that great. He hasn't really spoken much... His doctor wants him to see a psychiatrist."

"That's probably a good idea. Is there any news on who... Who did this?"

I merely shrugged in reply.

I didn't want to think about the fucker who had tempted to end Gerard's life and ruin mine in one go.

If I ever came across them, I would...

I don't even know.

All I know is: I would not be happy.

"Could you tell him we miss him loads and hope he recovers soon?" Taylor asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, sure. You do know that you could visit him as well?"

Taylor looked at Maisie, "We should all go and surprise him."

"Yeah. Maybe at the weekend?" Maisie smiled.

"Awesome! I'll tell the others!"

Taylor bounced over to the others, leaving me and Maisie.

Maisie looked instantly uncomfortable by her departure.

I realised then that Maisie and I hadn't really spoken properly before.

It was kind of awkward.

She didn't make any move to follow Taylor though.

She actually looked like she was contemplating something.

After a moment, she looked at me and said, "I was um... I was worried about you."

This was news to me.

I didn't know she even cared about me.

I raised an eyebrow, "You were?"

"Yeah," She admitted, "No one had heard from you. I'm uh... I'm glad you're okay."

I didn't think anyone had time to worry about me anymore.

Gerard was the main priority.

I smiled slightly, "Thanks, I guess."

She shrugged and looked at the ground, "You make Gerard happy. I'm glad he has you."

That was the nicest thing Maisie had ever said to me.

It surprised me slightly.

I had always thought that Maisie didn't really like me that much.

That was the vibe she had always given off around me.

I had intended to talk to Gerard about it but that was obviously the last thing on my mind at the moment.

"Thanks, Maisie."

"It's no problem," She avoided my eye contact and went over to Taylor and the others.

That had actually taken me off guard a little.

Luckily, before I had to engage in any more social constructs, the bell went.

I was already hating this.

School without Gerard really wasn't worth it at all.

It fucking sucked already and without him, it was even worse.

If that was possible.

I just had to wait for him.

Only a few more weeks to go.

And at least I could see him after school every day.

That was the only thing keeping me going.

Life sucked without him near me.


	39. Home

{Gerard's POV}

 

The clock was ticking loudly and it made the room seem even more uncomfortable.

I would have preferred for it to be silent really.

It made waiting for my mum to come and pick me up seem longer than it actually was.

I knew this day was coming but I wasn't sure if I welcomed it very much.

The hospital wasn't the greatest place in the world but at least it was safe.

I was worried that I wouldn't feel safe at home or at school.

At least I could have a couple of weeks off before I went back.

I felt like I needed them.

My wound was still sore and I had to take medication to make it feel numb.

That meant weeks of my mum asking me if I had taken it twice a day.

I could tell that was going to get old fast.

There was a knock on the door.

I looked up to see my mum, Mikey and my doctor appear.

Mikey looked like he didn't want to be here very much and I didn't blame him.

"Good morning, Gerard. How are you feeling today?" The doctor asked.

I shrugged, "Okay, I guess."

He turned to my mum, as if I wasn't there anymore, "He's responding well to the medication. Keep giving him this twice a day for two weeks and then bring him back for a check-up. I'll make an appointment for you. How about the twentieth of February?

"That should be fine," My mum smiled, "Thank you, doctor."

She turned to me, "Come on then. Let's go home."

That was my queue to leave.

I stood up and grabbed my bag.

Mikey appeared next to me.

"I can take that... If you want."

Oh, okay then.

"Sure. Thanks, Mikes."

I handed him the bag which he slung over his shoulder.

"Plenty of rest. No school for at least two weeks," The doctor was saying as we walked out, "Try and go out at least twice a week for some fresh air. Maybe sit in your garden or go for a short walk. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to bring him back in."

I wasn't really listening after that.

Mum was thanking him again while we walked down the corridor.

Nurses, doctors and patients passed us, talking about random crap.

I could vaguely hear Mikey's music coming out of his headphones.

He only had one bud in which meant that he actually cared about what was happening.

He usually had both in.

About ten minutes later, we were in the car, travelling home.

I was still feeling pretty nervous but I was also feeling excited.

Maybe because I would be seeing Frank soon.

He had promised to come round after school.

It was a Friday so I was secretly hoping that he could stay round.

Maybe I should have asked him beforehand.

Especially as he would be in his school uniform.

Damn.

I hadn't thought that through.

"Gerard?"

I looked up, pulled out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"How are you doing, Sweetie?"

I bit my lip, "A little scared I guess."

A sympathetic smile appeared on her face.

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine now."

I nodded slightly before looking out of the window again.

Car journeys were kind of boring without music.

Luckily, we didn't live too far from the hospital so were back at home within ten minutes or so.

I was going to go straight up to my room but my mum wasn't having that.

"Gerard, stay down here for a bit. You too, Mikey."

Mikey, who was already halfway up the stairs, sighed and came back down.

We both sat on the sofa awkwardly.

I could definitely hear Mikey's music now.

Green Day?

Probably.

The phone started ringing.

My mum answered it and went into the kitchen.

I sighed and leant back against the sofa.

I knew Mikey wouldn't be up for smalltalk so I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

It was almost ten o'clock.

I realised then that Mikey was bunking off school.

I looked at him, "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Hm?" He pulled out one of his earbuds.

I repeated myself, adding an eye roll.

"Mum let me stay off today to see you."

"Oh."

That surprised me a little.

"Was that her idea?"

He shook his head before putting his earbud back in.

I smiled to myself.

Mikey rarely showed any compassion or anything like that towards me.

So when he did little things that reminded me he loved me... It was pretty nice.

He didn't love me because I was his brother and he had to.

"Gerard?" Mum came back into the room, holding the phone, "Your dad is on the phone."

I sighed internally and stood up.

She handed me the phone and I went into the kitchen.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Gerard. How're you doing? You get home okay?"

"Uh yeah. I'm fine. A little sore, but fine."

"Good. I'm... I'm sorry I couldn't be there for when you got out of the hospital. I've been busy with work. I thought I'd call..."

I ran a hand through my hair, "It's fine. You don't need to worry."

"I do, Gerard. You're my son. Have you heard anything from the police?"

"No... I'd rather not talk about that. Ask mum if you want updates."

"I will. Uh... Sorry."

"It's fine, dad. Was there something else you wanted?"

I heard him sigh quietly, "I guess not. If anything happens, let me know. I'll call in a couple of days, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Bye, dad."

"Bye."

I hung up.

I loved my dad but our relationship was complicated.

I returned the phone to it's cradle in the living room.

My mum and Mikey were talking but suddenly stopped when I entered the room.

"Everything okay?" Mum asked.

I shrugged, "I guess."

Mikey had both earbuds back in again.

"So," Mum looked awkward, "Gerard, I'd like to speak to you."

I groaned inside.

"What about?" I sat on the chair.

"Um... Mikey," She turned to him, "Could you go upstairs for minute?"

He had already stood up before she had finished her sentence.

I watched him leave.

"Gerard," Mum drew back my attention, "I'm not going to ask anymore questions about... You know. I won't speak about it if you don't want me to."

I looked down at my feet.

"I'd rather just forget about it," I admitted.

"I thought as much."

We were both silent for a moment.

I waited to see what she would say.

She didn't disappoint, "There is something I'd like to talk to you about though. I've been thinking about it for a few days now. Although, I've been debating whether I should wait for you to come to me first..."

I looked up, confused, "What is it, mum?"

She was debating with herself, I could see that.

"It's nothing," She eventually stood up, "Forget I said anything."

I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Do you want to watch a film later? I'll call Mikey down. Maybe we could get a pizza or something?"

I smiled, "Yeah. That sounds great, mum. Could we do that at lunch though instead? Frank's coming round later."

I saw a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Okay. I'm just going to put the washing on. You want a drink?"

"Yeah, thanks."

She smiled before going into the kitchen.

I pulled my phone out again and smiled at my lockscreen.

It was a picture Frank had taken on my phone of me and him.

I didn't even know he was taking it at the time so I was mid-laughing.

I really liked that photo.


	40. Sleepover

{Gerard's POV}

 

There was a knock on my bedroom door.

I looked up, "Yeah?"

It opened and Frank appeared from behind it, a smile on his face.

"Hey."

I couldn't stop myself from grinning as soon as I saw him, "Hey."

He shut the door behind him and stood in the middle of my room.

I left my phone on my bed and stood up.

"How are you feeling?" He held out a hand.

I moved in front of him and took it.

"Okay, I guess, all things considered."

He smiled at that and pulled me closer towards him.

I was standing right in front of him now, our faces only inches apart.

Although, because I was taller, he had to look up at me a little.

"It's so good to see you properly. Like, not in a hospital bed."

"Yeah," I agreed.

I vaguely noticed him shrug his school bag off onto the floor.

His eyes didn't leave mine.

He opened his mouth slightly.

I could feel his breath on my lips.

He licked his lips slightly before finally leaning in.

I closed my eyes the moment his lips touched mine.

It was definitely a refreshing feeling being able to kiss him without worrying that my mum could appear at any moment.

The kiss was slow at first but Frank soon changed that.

His free hand moved up to my cheek and he pulled himself even closer into me, if that was possible.

The kiss soon turned urgent and slightly sloppy but neither of us cared.

Frank let go of my hand and wrapped both arms around my neck.

I took this opportunity to place my hands on his waist.

We had never kissed like this before.

I kinda liked it.

No, I really liked it.

And so did Frank by the looks of it.

I was aware then that he was nudging me to go backwards.

I didn't understand what he was getting at, at first, but then I realised and pulled him with me onto the bed.

He kiss broke abruptly when we fell onto it.

"Ow!" I almost jumped back up.

I moved and picked up the thing I had sat on.

My phone.

Right.

I laughed at my own awkwardness and Frank smirked.

After placing it on my bedside table, I turned back to Frank.

He was sitting cross-legged in front of me and looking at me intently.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," He shrugged, "It's just that... You're really beautiful."

I blushed at hearing that.

"No, I'm not."

He snorted in disagreement.

"Guys can be beautiful too, you know, Gerard. And you so are."

I shook my head and had to look down, aware of how red I was going.

"Hey."

Against my better judgement, I looked up.

The moment I did, I was met with his lips.

It caught me by surprise but I soon kissed him back.

I felt the bed move and him sit closer to me.

His hands were on my waist then.

It was kind of weird how intimate he had suddenly gotten.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind at all.

I just wondered what had brought all of this on.

After a moment or two, I pulled away and looked at him.

He opened his eyes.

"What's gotten into you?" I asked, a smile playing on my lips.

He frowned, not having understood.

"What's with all the... I don't know. Kissing?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Are you complaining?"

"Not at all," I laughed a little, "I'm just curious as to why you're suddenly all touchy-feely."

He still didn't seem to understand what I meant.

"We've made out before."

"Not like this," I shrugged.

He let go of my waist and leant against the wall.

"Well," He looked down, "I guess it really, really fucking scared me when I thought... When I thought I had lost you."

I didn't say anything.

He looked up again, "When I saw you in that hospital bed for the first time, unconscious and hooked up to a machine... I promised myself that I would make the most of every second I spend with you from now on."

I couldn't help myself from smiling.

"Why?"

He looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Because I almost lost you, Gerard! I don't know what I would have done if I had. I'm never going to take you for granted. I'm going to thank God for every second we have together."

"But you've never taken me for granted. None of it was your fault, you know," I moved closer to him.

"I know but..." He sighed, "I just love you so much."

I rested my head on his shoulder.

"I love you too."

He put an arm around me and pulled me even closer, "I'll never let anything happen to you again. I'll protect you."

I smiled and hugged him close to me.

"Thanks, Frank."

I felt him shrug.

"It's my job. You're my boyfriend."

He started stroking soothing circles on my back.

We sat like that for a few minutes in silence.

Neither of us needed to say anything to remind each other we were there.

We were comfortable not saying anything.

That was until I remembered something.

"Hey, did you get my text?"

He didn't say anything.

I frowned, "Frank?"

"Mmm?"

I sat up slightly and looked at him, "Frank?"

He opened his eyes.

"What did you say?"

I smiled and repeated my question.

"The one about staying over? Yeah, I did. I went home before I came here to grab some clothes and pyjamas."

"So, you're staying then?"

He smirked at me, "Nah, I just felt like getting extra clothes and my toothbrush for no reason at all."

I hit him on the chest playfully, "Okay, no reason to be sarcastic."

"Ow!" He grinned, "That hurt."

"No, it didn't."

"How do you know? You want to experience it? Maybe you should let me hit you."

"Is this turning into an abusive relationship now?" I giggled.

He thought for a second before saying, "Sounds more kinky than unhealthy."

I blushed slightly at that.

"Fuck," He sighed, "You're adorable."

I started to shake my head but he wouldn't have any of that.

He pushed me onto my back, my head hitting my pillow.

"Hey!" I laughed.

He grinned over me before leaning down and connecting his lips with mine.


	41. Heart-Warming

{Gerard's POV}

 

Frank stayed over every weekend after that for the next two weeks.

The first time he only stayed Friday night but soon he was staying until Sunday instead.

It was on the third weekend that I wished he could've stayed the night on Sunday.

I was going back to school on Monday.

I knew my mum would let me have more time off if I wanted but I was already bored out of my mind at home and knew I had a lot to catch up on.

I'd already missed exam mocks.

Frank had promised to come round my house early so we could walk together.

I was glad he suggested that because I was already worrying about walking on my own.

What if Lewis and his friends showed up?

The police still hadn't found them and I was getting more nervous each day.

By Monday morning, I was a total wreck.

My mum was being extra sympathetic and even made my breakfast for me.

She offered to give me a lift in the car but I told her I was walking with Frank.

I waited anxiously by the front door for him.

What time did he say he'd be here?

Five past eight.

I think.

What time was it?

I checked my phone.

Four minutes past.

He would be here soon.

But what if he didn't show up?

Before my paranoia got the better of me, there was a knock at the door.

I scrambled for a key and opened it.

Frank smiled when he saw me.

"Hey. Ready to go?"

I nodded and stood next to him on the path, shutting the door behind me.

He pulled me into a hug as soon as I had.

"Everything will be fine," He whispered.

I nodded slightly and he pulled away.

He leant back in again though and kissed me.

The kiss was short but sweet and he soon pulled away and held out his hand.

I took it gratefully and we started walking.

It didn't take long for a conversation to start.

We talked about the guys and Frank said they had all missed me, him included of course.

That was something I was looking forward to.

Our band rehearsals could start properly again.

Frank told me that the others still met up to hang out but Frank usually came straight to my house.

That was pretty cool.

I was a little surprised Mikey still met up but I didn't question it.

That was when I remembered the song I had been writing.

I should take a look at that sometime to see where I was at with it.

By the time we got to the gate, I realised that I hadn't even notice us pass the alley.

Walking to school together had definitely been a good idea.

I glanced over to the corner by the wall as we passed it.

I remembered that place only too well.

Frank felt me tense up beside him.

"Hey," He looked at me.

I dragged my eyes away to meet his gaze.

"I'm here. There's nothing to worry about."

I nodded again for lack of words.

We walked through the gate and for some reason, I felt on show.

It felt like everyone was watching me.

They probably weren't but that was how it felt.

Frank started to stroke circles on the back of my hand with his thumb like he always did to calm me down.

And it always worked.

I relaxed a little as we walked towards our usual spot.

Our friends had noticed us and I could tell they were trying not to stare.

As soon as we stopped next to them, Taylor came over and hugged me tightly.

For once, I didn't mind one of her hugs.

"I love you loads and I'm here for you," She said into the hug.

"Thanks, Tay," I said as she pulled away and smiled at me.

The others came over then and seemed to fawn over me.

I got so many hugs I lost count.

It was weird.

I didn't realise I meant this much to everyone.

It was kind of nice.

Maisie was the last person to come up to me.

I saw tears well up in her eyes as she threw her arms around me.

For that moment, I forgot about our falling out and hugged her back.

I'd missed her.

"I'm so glad you're okay," She said when she pulled away, "So, so glad."

I smiled at her.

"I missed you, Mai."

The tears in her eyes threatened to spill over.

"I missed you too, Gee."

The bell went then as it always did and after hugging Frank, I made my way to form with Maisie.

She linked her arm through mine and talked the whole way.

She hadn't done this in so long and it was welcome on my part.

I hoped she would continue like her old self from now on and forget whatever was troubling her before.

When we made it to form, she smiled at me sheepishly and opened the door for me.

I frowned and went in.

The first thing I saw was a big banner across the wall reading, "Welcome Back, Gerard!"

Woah.

There were balloons hung on the walls too.

"Here he is!" I heard.

I turned to see the whole of my form and my form teacher stood by a table, grinning.

Maisie was behind me then.

"We're all so happy you're okay and back here, Gerard," My form teacher came over and smiled.

"We thought we'd have a mini form party."

I couldn't help but let a huge smile take over my face.

This was amazing.

I had no idea so many people cared about me.

It was definitely a nice thing to come back to.

It didn't seem to be just Frank who was milking his moments with me.

At that moment, I was extra glad I had pulled through.

Otherwise, I would never have known that so many people cared about me.

It was a heart-warming experience.


	42. Chemical Romance

{Gerard's POV}

 

"Hey! Here he is!"

I blushed as I shut the door behind me.

I hadn't expected a greeting like this.

"We're glad you're okay, Gerard," Ray smiled and hugged me.

"Yeah," Bob agreed.

Mikey, who was sat on a table, smiled slightly.

I looked around.

"Where's Frank?"

Ray shrugged, "We thought he'd be with you."

I opened my mouth to reply when I heard the door behind me.

"Heeeey!" Frank smirked.

Well that answered that question.

Mikey raised an eyebrow, "Uh hi?"

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Bob asked as Frank shut the door.

A huge smile spread across Frank's face.

I waited curiously with the others for what he would say.

"Isn't it obvious?" He eventually said.

No one said anything.

Ray shook his head.

Frank rolled his eyes before saying, "My fucking boyfriend is alive!"

I blushed and looked down.

"Oh yeah, of course," Ray laughed.

Bob shook his head and went over to the drums.

I felt a hand on my face and I looked back up to see Frank smiling at me.

I smiled sheepishly back.

He put an arm around my shoulders.

"So, now we're all back together," He began, "First order of business! Mr Toro, if you would be so kind."

Ray smirked and said, "Well, on Monday, Mr Porter told me that there's going to be another showcase next month. How about it, guys?"

Bob, who was sat behind the drums, nodded.

"Sure, why not?" Mikey shrugged.

"Are we gonna play the same song?" Ray asked.

Frank looked at me.

"I could maybe write another..." I bit my lip.

I noticed then that they were all looking at me.

"Really?" Frank asked.

"Yeah," I smiled, "I've got a book full of lyrics. I can fit loads together easily."

"Awesome," Frank grinned.

"Should we wait until Gerard finishes the lyrics until we sort out the instruments?" Ray asked.

"May as well," Mikey agreed.

Ray nodded and sat down next to Mikey on the table.

"Okay, cool," Frank took over again, "Next then. We need a name for the band. I haven't really come up with anything yet. Has anyone else?"

We spent the remainder of the session discussing names.

None of the ones we each suggested seemed to fit though so we left it for another time.

We all agreed to look out for any inspiration though.

After we had all parted ways, Mikey and I made our way home.

I had done it.

I had lasted the whole of my first week back.

It didn't seem like much but it was to me.

Frank had agreed to stay over again but first had to go home to grab some stuff.

He usually remembered clothes and stuff like that though.

He said he had been in a rush this morning so had forgotten.

Mikey was quiet as usual on the way back.

I didn't mind.

I was used to it.

That was until we reached our road.

"Hey, Gee...?" He seemed reluctant.

I looked at him, "Yeah?"

"How's your wound?"

I was surprised a little at his question.

He was one of the people who hadn't really asked me how I was doing.

Whereas others had been asking constantly.

"It's okay, I guess," I replied, "Kinda aching now, but it usually does at this time. I need my second dose of meds."

He nodded, looking straight ahead.

I didn't say anything else.

I could never be sure if he was listening since he always had his headphones in.

"Uh," He still seemed unsure.

What was going on?

"What is it, Mikes?" I frowned.

"I think I have a name."

I stopped walking.

"What?"

"For the band," He stopped walking as well.

I frowned, "Why didn't you say earlier?"

He shrugged, "Forgot."

"Well, what is it?"

He started walking again and I caught up with him.

"I had detention at lunch-"

"What else is new?" I smirked.

He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Anyway," He sighed, "I had to go to the library to get a book for my teacher. When I was looking for it, I found another. Out of curiosity, I read the blurb."

"And?" I pressed on.

"There was a cool phrase on it. I kinda liked it."

We were walking down the path to our house now.

"What was it?" I asked as I got my key out.

He stopped outside the front door and waited for me to unlock it.

"I can't even remember the sentence it was used in. All I remember are the words 'chemical romance'."

I froze, the key in the lock.

I looked at him.

"'Chemical romance'?" I repeated.

He nodded.

It was interesting, I'll give him that.

"What book was that?" I asked.

"I don't even know," He shrugged, "Are you gonna let us in or what?"

"What? Oh, yeah."

I unlocked the door and opened it.

We entered the house and I shut the door behind us.

"Bring it up next week," I took my bag off.

Mikey took his off too.

"Okay. I just kinda like it."

I nodded, "It is pretty cool."

He shrugged again and headed upstairs.

I stayed at the bottom of the stairs and bit my lip, thinking about what he had just said.

Chemical romance.

Our name definitely had to include that.

I pulled out my phone and called Frank's number.

He picked up after three rings, "Hey. I'm just on my way over."

"Cool. Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"Mikey might have found us a name."

"Yeah? What is it?" He asked.

"Well, part of the name anyway," I said, going up the stairs.

"Go on then. Tell me."

"Chemical romance."

He was silent for a moment.

"That's cool," He eventually said, "Actually, that's very cool. How'd he think of that?"

"He read it on the back of a book," I was in my room now.

"No kidding? Awesome. Hey, I'm just leaving my house. I'll see you in fifteen? We can talk about it then."

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up.

Chemical romance...

What else did it need?

Our Chemical Romance?

This Chemical Romance?

It needed something like that.

What though?

I'd have to think about it.


	43. Duet

{Gerard's POV}

 

"Hey. What are you working on?"

"A new song," I said without looking up.

"What for?"

I finished the verse before finally looking up.

"There's a showcase in a month. The guys want to perform."

She seemed to sense my uneasiness.

"Do you want to?" Maisie asked.

I bit my lip, "I'm a bit unsure to be honest..."

"Why?" She frowned.

I closed my book and sighed.

"I'm just... I don't know if I'll be able to do it."

"Sure you will. You've done it before."

I shrugged and didn't say anything.

"Why are you worrying?" She asked.

I avoided her eye contact and looked down.

I was a bit reluctant to say.

"Gerard?"

I sighed before saying, "What if it was a sign?"

"What was?"

I couldn't avoid it now, "What if being stabbed was a sign that I shouldn't be on stage?"

She looked surprised by my answer before sympathy appeared in her eyes.

"It wasn't a sign. You belong on stage, Gee! Don't think like that."

"I can't help it," I admitted.

She sighed a little before saying, "Please perform. You guys are amazing together and you know you'll only regret it if you don't."

She was right and I knew it.

It was stupid to think like I had been.

I nodded a little, "Yeah... You're right."

She smiled, "I know."

I laughed a little and opened my lyric book again.

I had left Demolition Lovers alone due to writer's block.

This new song seemed to be writing itself though.

"You're lucky, you know," Maisie said.

I looked up again, "What?"

"I wish I had the guts to perform in front of all those people."

She looked a little sad but still smiled.

Maisie was an amazing singer but lacked confidence.

What had Frank said about confidence?

Performing helps.

You just have to get up there first.

"Then why don't you?" I found myself saying.

She seemed confused.

"What?"

"Why don't you sing in the showcase?"

She looked at me as if I was mad.

"Because I'd be scared shitless! I could never get on the stage on my own."

I knew she wanted to sing so I wanted to help some way.

"Sing with me then."

Her eyes widened.

"Wh-what?"

I smiled at her, "Sing with me. You won't be alone then."

"I..." She had run out of things to say.

"Why not?" I tried to justify myself, "We could do a duet."

She bit her lip before smiling and nodding.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but yeah!"

I grinned, "Awesome! What song do you wanna sing? You can pick."

"I don't know. I'll get back to you on that."

"Okay," I smiled and turned back to my book.

"Let Mrs Wells know," I said as I wrote down a new line.

"Okay."

I was onto the chorus now.

I always found the start of the chorus hard but soon got into it.

Luckily, I had an idea today.

It carried on from the pre-chorus easily.

Just as I was getting into it though, the bell went.

I sighed and put my book away.

As we made our way to music, we talked about what songs we could sing.

I could tell Maisie was really excited.

I was glad I had suggested a duet.

Things were almost like they used to be and that made me happy.

I was still curious as to why she had been so distant in the first place though.

However, I wasn't about to go and ask her.

It might ruin things again.

That wouldn't help anything.

It was composition in music and I used the time to sneakily work on my song.

Mrs Wells announced that there was going to be a showcase in a few weeks which of course, we already knew.

She then started making her way around the class again, writing people's names down.

By the time she got to our table, Frank made sure she had our names down.

"Oh, Miss," I caught her attention as she turned to go.

"Yes?"

"Could Maisie and I sing a duet?"

She smiled, "Sure thing. Would you like me to play piano for you?"

I looked at Maisie.

She nodded.

"Yes, please," I turned back to Miss.

She grinned and wrote our names down before going to another table.

"You guys are singing together?" Frank asked when she had gone.

I nodded, "Yeah. Maisie wants to perform but not on her own so I suggested we sing together."

A grin appeared on his face, "Awesome! You'll have to let me hear you guys rehearse."

I shook my head, smiling, "No way. You'll have to wait until the showcase."

"Aw," He fake pouted, "Pretty please."

"Nope."

"You're no fun," He smirked.

I put my pen down and crossed my arms.

"I'll have you know I'm very fun," I said.

"Oh, I know you are," He winked.

I blushed at his comment.

"Nice, guys," Maisie's voice nearly made me jump.

Why did I keep forgetting she was there?

Frank wasn't any better.

He started sniggering under his breath.

I giggled a little too out of awkwardness.

"Hey, Gee," Frank changed the subject after a few moments, "How's the song coming along?"

I blinked a few times before answering, "Oh, um... About halfway done."

"Woah. Well done!" He seemed impressed.

I smiled, "It's not that exciting."

"Yeah it is!" He disagreed, "When did you start writing it?"

"Saturday."

"Fucking hell," He grinned, "Why do you have to be so talented?"

I couldn't help but smile at that.

"It might not even be good," I shrugged.

He snorted in disagreement, "Yeah, sure. Like I'd believe that."

I couldn't stop smiling so I looked down at my book instead.

Hopefully, my song would be as good as Frank thought it would be.

Although, I wasn't sure.


	44. The Day Before Party

{Gerard's POV}

 

The guys really liked the new song.

In fact, they were all so motivated that we met up every day after school for a week.

Apart from on the Tuesday when we were dismayed to find it was choir rehearsal.

Other than that, we were in the classroom practically 24/7.

It felt amazing to work with them all.

It wasn't just me and Frank working on the song this time.

We all were.

Two weeks after I had written the lyrics, we had the completed product.

I have to say, it sounded pretty fucking good.

We were all pretty pleased with ourselves.

I felt close to this group of guys like we'd all known each other for years.

Well, Mikey and I had known each other for years but you get what I mean.

The showcase was soon in sight and each day, I felt more excited than nervous.

I honestly felt like I was born to perform.

I felt at home on stage even though I'd only had one experience on there.

By the time it was the day before the concert, we were all buzzing.

The rehearsal in the hall after school went pretty good.

Well, anything was good compared to last time.

Mr Porter was surprised to see us after what had happened to me but greeted us warmly.

By the time we were done, we all walked over to the usual gate.

Mikey, Ray and Bob were talking about video games while Frank swung our connected hands back and forth a little.

He was buzzing as usual.

The build up to a concert really excited him.

He was a born performer too.

By the time we got to the gate, instead of saying goodbyes, Frank spoke up, "Hey, guys!"

We all looked at him.

"Why don't we have a little celebration? We've never hung out together outside of school before."

"What do you mean?" Ray asked.

"What I mean, Mr Toro," Frank grinned, "Is that why don't we all go round to someone's house, order pizza and just have a good time? Instead of an after party, it's a day before party sort of thing."

I smiled at his suggestion and nodded.

"Yeah!" Ray beamed, "That would be awesome!"

Bob nodded in agreement too.

I looked at Mikey.

He looked at each of us in turn before saying, "You guys wanna come round ours?"

Frank's smile grew even larger if that was possible.

"Let's go!" He was practically bouncing up and down.

We headed off.

We were all basically talking over each other during the walk home.

It reminded me slightly of five year olds drugged up on sugar or something.

Mum was still at work as usual when we got in.

Also it was a Thursday so that meant that she didn't finish until half six.

We paraded into the lounge and kicked our shoes off.

Bob sat comfortably in the chair while the four of us squished onto the sofa.

It was a bit of a squeeze but we made it work.

Good thing Mikey was so lanky.

We talked about random crap until about five when Ray announced his hunger.

We all pulled out whatever cash we had on us and between us, we had enough for two large pizzas and a medium one.

The medium one would be cheese-less on account of Frank's lactose intolerance.

He felt a little bad about that but no one seemed to mind.

When we were all stuffing our face with the greasy stuff, Frank stood up.

"Guys! I would like to make an announcement!"

He held up his glass of Coke.

Ray made a clinking noise on his own glass with a knife we had used to help divide the pizza up.

We all stayed quiet and looked up at Frank.

He smiled at us all.

"I'd just like to say that I'm super grateful for all of you, you know? We all make a great team and band and without this band, I'd be fucking bored," He laughed a little before continuing, "I just wanna say thanks that's all. You're all pretty rad human beings."

Ray started clapping and soon we all were.

"Okay," Frank held up a hand and we stopped, "Enough of that soppy shit. I'd like to make a toast. To the future of our band! My Chemical Romance!"

We all raised our glasses and said loudly in unison, "My Chemical Romance!"

Then we fell into a fit of giggles.

"That wasn't too cheesy, right?" Frank asked me after when we were all eating and talking again.

The talking was mainly about video games on Mikey and Ray's part.

"Well, it was," I smiled at him, "But that was the best part about it."

He grinned back at me, "Good. Being cheesy seems to be my calling."

"Pretty ironic really," I smirked, "Since you're allergic to cheese."

He started laughing and I joined in.

"You're just..." He shook his head, "I love you."

I blushed a little and said, "I love you too."

He leant in and connected his lips to mine.

"Ew stop them! They're doing it again!"

I laughed and pulled away to see Mikey hiding his face behind his hands.

"Alright, Mikes," I rolled my eyes.

He peeked behind his fingers before removing his hands properly and smirking.

Frank stuck his tongue out at him, "Ball buster."

Mikey shrugged and went back to his pizza, still smiling slightly.

God, I did love these losers.

I honestly felt so at ease and happy at that moment.

It felt right.

We were like a little family, a friendship group.

Which of course, we were.

At that moment, I was pretty glad Mikey's old band had dropped him.

I was glad we had walked in on Ray playing that day.

I was glad he was good friends with Bob.

And of course, I was really fucking glad Frank had moved to our school.

Without him, none of this would have been possible.

He simply was amazing.


	45. Say Something

{Gerard's POV}

 

"Please?" He begged.

I shook my head, "Nope. You'll have to wait until later."

He groaned before giving up.

It was the day of the concert and Frank was still trying to listen to me and Maisie rehearse.

We had rehearsed for the last time at lunch and come out with the others for the remaining fifteen or so minutes of lunch time.

"Can you at least tell me what song it is?" He asked.

I thought for a moment before saying, "Okay, fine. Maisie picked it. It's Say Something by A Great Big World."

I watched him as he thought about it.

He frowned, "Yeah, I think I've heard of it."

"You'll know it when you hear it."

He nodded, "Yeah, probably."

It was an okay song and I think we actually sounded pretty decent together.

I remembered something then, "Oh, by the way. I have an Art trip."

He looked at me, "What? When?"

"Tomorrow. I'm going to Birmingham with my class to look at these paintings. It's fits with our focus on realism."

"I'll pretend I know what that is," He smirked, "But does that mean you're missing school tomorrow?"

I nodded.

"Aw," He stuck out his bottom lip, "But I'll miss you."

I smiled, "I'll miss you too."

He swung our hand back and forth a little.

"Can you... Not go?"

I laughed a little, "I have to, Frank. It's part of my course."

"Aw."

"Sorry."

"But you'll be back on Thursday, right?" He looked hopeful.

"Yeah, of course," I nodded.

"Okay, cool," He smiled.

The rest of the day passed by pretty quickly as it usually did before a concert.

It was when we were in the hall half an hour before it started that I felt a little nervous.

I was more excited than anything though.

However, Maisie hadn't shown up yet even though we had been told to get here extra early.

I wasn't that worried but I would have preferred for her to get here now.

Frank was buzzing as usual.

I really loved how excited he got before a concert.

He just couldn't keep any of it in.

In fact, all five of us were pretty on edge.

I really hoped our new song would sound good.

I was really enjoying singing it each time we rehearsed.

"Everyone backstage!" Mr Porter called out.

I looked round frantically.

Where was Maisie?

"Hey," Frank took ahold of my hand as we started walking backstage, "What's up?"

"Maisie isn't here yet," I looked towards the hall doors again.

She didn't walk through them.

"Don't worry. I'm sure she'll be here," He tried to reassure me.

I didn't say anything as we flooded into the PE block with the rest of the acts.

"I swear to fucking God," Mikey was saying, "If he calls me Michael again..."

I sniggered a bit at that.

Mikey really hated being called that.

"Go into the changing rooms please," Mrs Knight tried to organise us.

It was just a music showcase this time so that meant we could go into either changing rooms.

No hairspray fumes this time.

The five of us filed into one and sat at the back.

As soon as I sat down, I pulled out my phone to message Maisie.

"We're on fifth to last," Frank looked at the set list taped onto the wall, "Two after you and Maisie, Gee."

"Huh?" I looked up from my phone.

At that moment, I saw Maisie and Taylor enter the changing room.

Thank God for that.

I stood up and went over to them.

"I was getting worried," I said as I pulled Maisie into a hug.

She looked terrified already.

"I don't think I can do this, Gee," She admitted as I pulled away.

"Sure you can! I'll be with you. Everything will be okay," I tried to convince her.

She still didn't look very sure though.

"Nice makeup, Gee," Taylor smiled.

I frowned before I realised what she meant.

I had recently gotten into eyeliner.

I didn't wear it to school but I liked to practise with it after school and the showcase seemed like a good time to wear it.

I blushed a little, "Thanks."

"It suits you," She said, "What was Frank's reaction?"

Frank's initial reaction had been: "You look really fucking hot. You should wear it more often."

And of course he had winked at me.

"Uh... He liked it," I eventually said.

We went over to the guys and sat down.

For a moment it was silent before Taylor asked, "What song are you guys doing again?"

"Another original," Frank smiled, "It's called Kill All Your Friends."

Taylor narrowed her eyes at us, "Rude."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at that.

We spent the remainder of the time talking about random things as usual.

I could tell Maisie was really nervous.

By the time it was time for our duet, she was practically shaking.

"Hey," I pulled her into a hug as we waited to go on stage, "It'll be fine."

The others had sneaked into the hall to watch.

Maisie nodded a little but still looked uneasy.

We heard clapping and cheering.

"Oh, God," She whispered.

A group of year tens came through the stage door and passed us.

"You're up," Mrs Knight smiled at us.

"Come on, Mai," I smiled and opened the door.

As I went up the stairs, I kept looking behind me to make sure she was there.

Luckily, she hadn't decided to do a runner.

Mr Porter was waiting for us on stage and the curtains were shut.

We both stood in front of the microphones and he adjusted them to our heights.

"You're set," He smiled and disappeared behind the curtain.

I could actually feel the fear radiating off of Maisie.

I looked at her and smiled in reassurance.

She smiled slightly back but still looked scared.

I didn't blame her.

I was like that my first performance.

"Singing Say Something, we have Gerard Way and Maisie Roberts."

There was clapping and the curtains opened.

There were about fifty or so smiling faces in the crowd.

The piano began.

I looked to the right to see Mrs Wells on the piano.

Oh, right.

I really did like the piano to this song.

It was weird being up here without Frank.

I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

It was my time to sing so I started.

I was glad Maisie wasn't first in case she was too scared.

When it came to the chorus, Maisie joined in.

She was quiet.

I looked at her.

I wanted to reassure her somehow.

For some reason, I reached across and took ahold of her hand.

She looked down and smiled before the second part of the chorus came up.

She was louder this time and her voice almost met mine in volume.

Well, I seemed to have helped somehow.

She seemed to be smiling as well now.

My other hand was on my mic as we went into the second verse.

I was a little worried about the last chorus but she sang it well and I even think it sounded good.

To be honest, I was glad she had picked a short song.

It was a good choice for her first performance.

And she had done really well.

I was proud of her.


	46. The Green Eyes Monster

{Maisie's POV}

 

The piano faded off.

"Thank you," Gerard spoke into the mic.

I wished I had his confidence.

I remember when he used to be like me.

Only one thing had changed that and that thing was called Frank.

The crowd erupted into applause.

This was an amazing feeling.

The curtains shut and Gerard looked at me and grinned.

I was worried he would let go of my hand.

He didn't though.

He dragged me off the stage, down the stairs into the corridor.

"Well done, guys!" Mrs Knight whispered.

Before I could say something, Gerard pulled me outside.

A million things went through my head.

A part of me thought he was finding us privacy so he could say he had feelings for me, and a big part of me wished that that could be true.

"I'm so proud of you!" Gerard let go of my hand and pulled me into a hug when we were outside.

"Thanks..." I smiled against his chest.

I loved his hugs.

I know this sounds weird but he smelt nice.

He smelt like Gerard with a hint of Linx.

I loved the smell of Gerard.

We stood like that for a moment or two before Gerard pulled away a little and smiled down at me.

I'm not going to lie, I wanted to kiss him so bad.

I didn't have any experience with kissing but I wanted Gerard to be my first kiss.

Suddenly, I forgot about Frank and the fact that Gerard was turned off by my gender.

I gazed into his eyes and was about to lean in when-

"You guys did amazing!" Frank appeared at our side.

Gerard pulled away from me and moved into Frank's arms.

Frank wrapped his arms around him and looked at him.

"Well done, Sugar," He leant in and kissed Gerard.

He stole my kiss.

I felt a rage build up inside of me and I growled under my breath.

I fucking hated Frank.

Okay, I didn't hate Frank.

I hated the fact that he got there first.

They were just staring at each other, speaking without talking with their arms wrapped around each other still.

I felt super awkward.

I saw Taylor then.

She noticed me standing there awkwardly and came to my rescue.

"You guys sounded amazing!" She put her arm around me.

"It'll get better, don't worry," She whispered into my ear.

I wasn't sure if she meant the performing or the Gerard thing.

Gerard finally moved his gaze away from Frank to grin at her.

"Didn't Mai sound beautiful?" He smiled at me.

"Yeah!" Taylor beamed.

"You were really good, Maisie," Frank smiled.

I looked at him but didn't smile.

I felt bad but the green-eyed monster had taken over me.

"When are you guys on?" Taylor asked.

"Soon I think," Gerard replied.

I wasn't listening anymore though.

I was staring down Frank.

Frank was looking back at me with a confused look on his face.

He started frowning.

The door to the corridor opened and Mikey stepped out.

"There you are!" He sounded relieved, "We're on in five. We need to get ready."

"Okay," Gerard smiled, "Ready, Frank?"

Frank blinked and looked at Gee.

"I always am," He smiled at him and kissed him.

"Ew guys. Just... No," Mikey made a gagging sound.

Frank and Gerard started laughing.

"Seriously, that's my brother," Mikey said.

"If you don't like it, don't watch," Frank winked.

Mikey narrowed his eyes and held up his middle finger before heading back inside.

Frank laughed and pulled away from Gerard.

He looked at me again and frowned.

I kept my glare up because, well, I was a sore loser obviously.

Gerard was by the door.

"Coming, Frank?" He asked.

Frank, who looked like he was about to say something to me, stopped and looked at Gerard.

"Of course, Sugar," He smiled.

"See you on stage!" Taylor called to them.

Gerard put his thumb up and disappeared inside after Mikey.

Frank reached the door but before he went in, he looked back at me one more time.

I didn't say anything.

He shook his head and went in.

"Come on!" Taylor dragged me back into the hall.

~

Their performance was amazing as usual.

I had expected them to do the same song as last time since Gerard had only just got out of hospital a month ago.

But no, they had a new song.

It was pretty good as well.

When the showcase was over, I went to find Gerard to say goodbye.

I wouldn't be seeing him for a couple of days now and I was already craving another hug.

It was when I saw him with Frank outside that I stopped and waited.

They didn't seem to see me though.

"I'll miss you, Gee. I don't want to wait until Thursday to see you."

"Maybe you could come over tomorrow night."

"There's no maybe about it, Sugar."

Frank started whispering in Gerard's ear and Gerard starting giggling.

Ew.

I felt like throwing up. 

Not because of the cringeyness.

But because of how jealous I was.

I hated Frank for making me feel like this.

It wasn't his fault though.

I knew that.

I gave up on waiting to say goodbye to Gee and left them to it.

I could always text him later but I wasn't really in the mood to speak to him anymore anyway.

I went back into the hall to find my parents and get the hell out of here.

I spotted them straight away and met them in the middle of the room.

"Well done, darling!" My mum gave me a hug.

"You were amazing! We felt so proud!" My dad hugged me straight after my mum did.

"Thanks," I smiled.

"Are you ready to go?" My mum asked.

I nodded and we started making our way out to the front car park.

I looked behind at the door I had come through previously.

Secretly, I wished Gerard would come looking for me just to say goodbye.

I knew he wouldn't though.

When we were at the car, we got in and my dad started driving us home.

"Was that Gerard you were singing with?" My mum asked.

"Hm? Oh... Yeah. It was Gerard."

"He certainly has changed. The last time we saw him was when you were in year eight or something wasn't it?" My dad said.

"I didn't recognise him at first," My mum told me.

"Well," I thought for a second, "I guess he does look a bit different."

My dad laughed, "A bit? He's completely different! He's a lot slimmer and taller and his hair is black."

"I like his hair. It's styled nicely," My mum smiled.

"Oh, I know what I wanted to ask," My dad started, "Was he wearing makeup? I wasn't too sure because of the lights."

I smiled to myself, "Yeah. He always has black nail varnish on and he was wearing eyeliner."

"Interesting," My mum commented.

I looked out the window and started thinking about Gerard.

What was new?

"You two are pretty close huh?" My dad pulled me out of my thoughts.

Not really at the moment.

I blamed that on Frank.

"I guess," I shrugged.

"Close friends? Or... You know..." My mum hinted.

God, I fucking wished.

"We're just friends, mum," I sighed.

"Oh okay," My mum replied, "We were just wondering because of the hand holding."

"He was just reassuring me. I was nervous."

"Mmm..." My mum obviously thought that Gerard liked me or something.

Ugh.

I wanted to tell them about Gerard and Frank but I couldn't risk them talking to Gerard's parents about it.

I wasn't that mean.

The rest of the drive home was quiet and I was thankful.

When Wednesday came, I was not looking forward to it.

Especially as Taylor was on the trip too.

So that meant that it was just me and Frank today.

Oh, fuck.

Not good after our little stare off last night.

Well, my stare off.

He had no clue what was going on.

I walked into music a little scared, I have to say.

I sat down at our empty table and prayed that Frank wouldn't show up.

He'd skived before when Gee wasn't in.

Sadly, he strode into the classroom five minutes later.

I hoped he had forgotten about last night but I somehow doubted it.

He sat across from me instead of at his usual seat situated across from Gerard's.

I bit my lip.

Oh, God.

Frank looked at me intently.

He opened his mouth to say something but Miss started talking and I was grateful.

"Well done for last night, everybody!" She beamed, "You all did amazing! I was very proud. Today, we have to clear out the hall of music equipment. It'll probably take most of the lesson and we'll be walking back and forth a bit. Let's head on over."

Everyone stood up and followed her outside.

I waited to see if Frank would follow but it looked like he was waiting for me.

Shit.

We stood up at the same time when everyone else had left the classroom.

Silently, we walked out of the Performing Arts block and out onto the playground.

We were a bit behind everyone else but I wasn't about to start chasing after them all.

We walked slowly and at first neither of us spoke.

I realised that I had never really spent any time with Frank before.

I never had any reason to.

"What have I done, Maisie?" He pulled me out of my thoughts suddenly.

"Hm? What?" I looked at him.

"What have I done? I've obviously done something to upset you."

I felt bad.

He was unintentionally making me feel like shit every day.

He had no idea.

"It isn't anything you've done," I said in a quiet voice, "It's what you're doing."

"What am I doing then? I've wracked my brain and I can't think of anything. I was tempted to ask Gee if he knew but I wanted you to tell me."

I bit my lip.

What would I say?

He obviously wanted answers.

I couldn't tell him I was head-over-heels for my gay best friend who just happened to be his boyfriend.

Wow...

It still shocked me to realise Gerard was gay.

Why didn't I let myself believe it?

I didn't understand.

He was gay.

Why didn't I understand this?

Frank was living proof that Gerard was gay.

But still, a part of me hoped that we could still be together.

I knew it wasn't possible but I couldn't help but dream.

Surely I shouldn't like him anymore.

But I did.

I really did and it hurt like hell.

I would never tell him though.

It would ruin everything.

"Please tell me, Maisie," Frank said when I still hadn't said anything.

We were at the hall now.

We walked in and went over to the various equipment that needed taking back to the music rooms.

I grabbed an acoustic.

Mainly because it was light and I had no strength.

Frank grabbed an electric in one hand and a large amp in the other.

I found myself wondering if he worked out.

I shook the thought out of my mind and started walking back to music with him.

Frank didn't say anything but I could tell he wanted to.

I felt a little guilty so gave in, "I'll tell you but you... You can't tell Gerard."

He looked at me and frowned, "Why not?"

"You just can't."

"You're asking me to keep a secret from my boyfriend," He observed.

"I know but I don't want him to find out. It... It'll ruin everything."

He understood and nodded, waiting for what I had to say.

"I..." I wasn't sure how to address this.

Should I just come straight out with it or...

"Do you not like me or something? Is that it? I've had people not like me for no reason before. I'm used to it."

Oh fuck, Frank...

Don't make me feel even worse.

"No, it's not that. I like you, Frank. It's just... I envy you..."

He frowned.

"You envy me?" He obviously didn't understand.

I nodded.

"Why?"

Ugh.

He was not making this any easier.

"I just... It's hard to say, Frank."

"So you don't know why?"

"I do. It's just... Awkward."

We had made it back to the classroom now.

Everyone was leaving again to get more stuff.

We placed the guitars on some stands and Frank put the amp in one of the rehearsal rooms.

I was about to leave the classroom again when Frank said, "You're not going anywhere until I get some answers. Sit." He pointed to a nearby chair.

I didn't see any point in arguing so sat down.

He sat on the chair across and looked at me intently; as if he was trying to work out what I was thinking.

"How come you left last night without saying goodbye?" He asked out of the blue.

I shrugged.

"Gerard was looking for you. He was kind of upset you left."

I looked down at my feet.

"He won't admit it, but I know it upset him. I know Gerard."

I kind of snapped then.

"And so do I! I knew him way before you! But you just had to come and ruin everything, didn't you?!"

His eyes widened in shock.

I knew he hadn't expected that.

To be honest, neither had I.

"Ruin everything?" He questioned.

"Yes!" 

I couldn't stop myself.

I had been holding in all this rage for a long time.

It was only a matter of time before I broke.

"Everything was fine before you came and I know I sound like a bitch saying that but it's true."

Frank looked down and didn't say anything.

I was worried I had upset him.

"I'm sorry..." He mumbled, "I knew I was a fuck up but I didn't realise I was that much of one..."

I bit my lip, unsure of what to say

"Is it just you that thinks this or does everyone?... Does Gerard? Is-Is he going out with me for a joke? I knew it was too good to be true."

He dropped his head into his hands.

Oh God, I really shouldn't have said that.

I had to fix this.

"No, Frank! Gerard really really likes you. I haven't seen him this happy in, well, ever really. You're his whole world. He never shuts up about you."

He looked up then.

"Really?" Tears were rolling down his face.

I leant across the table and placed my hand on his.

"Really. I'm sorry I said all that. I... I'm just a jealous bitch I guess."

Frank wiped his eyes and frowned, "Jealous of what though? You still haven't told me. Do you not like the fact me and Gerard are going out or something?"

"In a sense I guess. You guys belong together. You can tell that just by looking at you but... I just..."

I sighed.

This time Frank reached across and touched my hand.

"What is it, Maisie?"

It was time to tell him.

I closed my eyes and whispered, "I... I think I'm in love with Gerard and I have been for a long time."

Frank's hand disappeared from mine.

I opened my eyes to see him sitting back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling.

He was thinking deeply.

I bit my lip, worried about what he would say.

"Even before I came?" He suddenly said.

His eyes didn't leave the ceiling.

"Yeah..."

He looked at me then.

I searched his face but it was blank.

"You have to tell him," He said the forbidden words.

Why did people keep telling me this?

"No way!" I shook my head, "We've been friends for too long."

"All the more reason to," He shrugged.

I started fiddling with my hair out of worry.

"Look," He sat forward, "I'm not gonna be a dick and say if you don't tell him, I will. I just think you should. It might give you closure or some shit."

Ah, Frank's speech was so beautiful.

I wasn't too sure.

"You don't want to keep on feeling this way about him do you?" He raised an eyebrow.

Part of me didn't want to let go but I knew it was time.

"I suppose so..."

"Then this is all I can think of. Don't you read those girly magazines that tell you how to get over guys?"

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Uh no."

"Too bad," He sat back again, "I could've done with one of those a few months ago."

Um what?

It then occurred to me that none of us really knew much about Frank.

He was a closed book.

He kept to himself.

I wondered if he had told Gerard anything.

"What?" I questioned.

He just shook his head.

"Tell me, Frank. I told you a secret. Now it's your turn."

"Oh a see how it is," He smiled.

I half smiled in return.

"Come on," I leaned forward, intrigued.

"Well... Okay. But I haven't exactly told Gerard yet," He admitted.

"I won't say anything," I promised and I meant it.

I wasn't that mean.

He sat up straighter and crossed his arms.

"Well," He began.


	47. New Revelations

{Gerard's POV}

 

"You guys can have a lunch break now. Stay inside the museum though."

Finally.

We had been wondering around all day, looking at hundreds of paintings.

I never knew there were so many paintings focussed on realism.

I did enjoy it but my feet were killing me.

Taylor and Carrie appeared at my side.

"Wanna go find a bench?" Taylor asked.

"Sure."

We walked down the corridor until we found a bench next to a big potted plant.

After sitting down, we got out our lunches and started eating.

I was enjoying today but it did seem to drag on a little.

We didn't have much to talk about at first.

That was until Taylor started talking about our friends.

Apparently Michelle and Dan weren't doing so well lately.

I was surprised by that because they were the main couple of our friendship group.

According to Taylor though, Frank and I were taking over that role.

That was weird.

We were apparently an "even cuter couple".

Okay then.

This was news to me.

Also, Carrie had a new crush but wasn't telling anyone who it was.

"Come on! At least give us a clue!" Taylor pleaded.

"No way!" Carrie was bright red.

Bless her.

I rolled my eyes, "Just let it go, Tay. She doesn't want to tell us."

Taylor sighed and crossed her arms.

She always wanted to know everything.

I was never that bothered.

"That's so unfair. Even Maisie told me who she liked and she doesn't tell anyone."

My head snapped up.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow, "Maisie likes someone?"

How did I not know this?

Maisie usually told me when she had a crush on someone new.

Taylor's eyes widened as she realised what she had just said.

"Why didn't she tell me?" I questioned.

I knew we weren't as close lately but she still would have told me.

"I uh..." Taylor bit her lip.

Carrie was looking at Taylor with wide eyes, waiting to see what she would say.

"Just uh... A guy," She eventually murmured.

"Who?" I asked.

I knew I should have really waited to ask Maisie but I couldn't help it.

I wanted to know.

Maisie never really cared if people knew who she liked so why was this different?

"Um..." Taylor looked at Carrie.

"You can't tell him," Carrie whispered.

I still heard her though.

"Why not?" I asked.

Why was everyone keeping secrets from me lately?

"Maybe he should know..." Taylor shrugged.

"What?!" Carrie looked visibly shocked, "Maisie would kill you!"

Taylor seemed to know this already and rolled her eyes.

"This has been going on for ages. She needs to move on now."

"What?" I was still in the dark, "What's been going on for ages?"

"Oh, nothing," Taylor dismissed me.

This was beginning to frustrate me now.

I hated not knowing things.

Having people keep things from me deliberately sucked.

Why wasn't I allowed to know anything?

Taylor and Carrie seemed to be having a whispered conversation now.

I could only hear bits of it unfortunately.

I sighed and decided to leave them to it.

Looked like I wouldn't find out anytime soon.

Maybe I should ask Maisie about it tomorrow.

Just as I was finishing my sandwich, I heard, "It's not like he'll feel the same way. He likes guys."

I froze before swallowing slowly.

"Who likes guys?" I looked at them.

They both stopped talking and looked back at me.

"Now look what you've done!" Carrie snapped at Taylor.

"Does..." I needed to know if this was true, "Does Maisie like a guy who... Likes guys?"

That meant only two people.

Only two people I knew anyway.

Me and Frank.

Frank was bi though so there was a possibility he could like a girl.

That always worried me slightly just because he had more choice.

Not that he would do that to me though.

So that left just me...

Did...

Did Maisie like me?

"Guys... Does um... Does Maisie like me?" I managed to say.

Of course she didn't.

Why was I even thinking this?

The girls looked at each other but didn't say anything.

Holy shit.

"I'll take that as a yes then..."

Wait, what?

Maisie liked me?

That couldn't be true.

She was my best friend.

She couldn't like me like that...

Could she?

"Guys?!"

I needed answers now.

Taylor was the one to eventually speak, "...You can't tell her you know."

So it was true?

I rubbed my eyes with my hands, trying to make sense of it all.

Was that why she had been acting so weird for so long?

Was she...

Was she jealous of Frank?

No, she couldn't be.

"She's been having a really tough time with it all," Carrie said, accepting the fact that I knew now, "She finds it hard to see you and Frank together."

I didn't say anything.

This was all going way over my head.

"Gerard?"

I looked up.

They were both watching me carefully.

"That's why she's been so weird around me," I said quietly.

"Yeah," Taylor nodded, "She's liked you for a while now. Long before Frank arrived."

What?

But that was months ago.

This couldn't be true.

"You're joking. This is all a joke," I looked at them hopefully.

They both shook their heads slowly.

Oh, God.

"What do I do...?" I asked hesitantly.

Carrie didn't seem to know what to say.

Taylor spoke though, "Maybe talk to her about it?"

"What?" That seemed insane, "That would make things worse!"

"But it might help," Taylor fiddled with her hair.

Talk about it...?

Would it help?

I wasn't sure.

I'd never actually been in this situation before.

I didn't know what to do.

"What would I say?" I mused the idea for a moment.

"I don't know," Taylor shrugged, "Just see what comes out when you see her."

I wasn't sure what to do.

Should I talk to her?


	48. A Personal Day

{Gerard's POV}

 

I must admit, I was a bit skeptical about going to school the next day.

Frank had said he would come round the night before but at the last minute, he cancelled.

Said he had homework to catch up on or something.

I wasn't too sure if I believed him or not.

Was there a reason he was avoiding me?

Had something happened?

He was fine the day before.

Maybe I was just reading too far into this.

Was I being paranoid?

Whatever, I had more stressing things on my mind.

I needed to talk to Maisie.

I still couldn't believe she liked me in that way.

And with Taylor's track record, I had a reason to be a bit skeptical about anything she told me.

But Carrie wouldn't lie.

So did that mean it was true?

The only way to know for sure was to ask Maisie herself.

I knew that was a risky option but I needed to know.

If this was the reason she had been avoiding me, then we needed to sort this.

I needed my best friend back.

For some reason, there was a nervous feeling in the air when I made my way over to my friends the next day.

Frank didn't greet me.

In fact, he wasn't there at all.

That was odd.

He was always here before me.

Maisie smiled at me a little but looked unsure of something.

What was going on?

The bell went before I could speak to anyone and to be honest, I was a little grateful.

The walk to form with Maisie was pretty quiet.

I wasn't sure what to say and it didn't look like Maisie did either.

I just wanted to get to Music to see if Frank would be there.

Was he ill?

Maybe that was the reason he couldn't come round the night before.

But he said he had homework to do.

So was he just avoiding me?

I was very confused.

As Maisie and I sat down at our usual table in form, I decided to break the silence.

"How was yesterday? I guess a few of us were missing."

She nodded slowly, "Yeah. It was quiet."

Was that all she was giving me?

"Anything worth mentioning?" I frowned.

There had to be something.

She shook her head again but didn't say anything.

I mentally sighed.

Looked like I wouldn't be getting much out of her today.

"How was music? Were you just cleaning out the hall?"

"Yeah, I wasn't much help. I mainly talked to Frank."

That was the first mention of him today.

"What did you guys talk about?" I asked, determined to get something out of her.

Her expression changed slightly but I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"Oh um... Nothing important."

By the way her voice had gone quiet, I very much doubted that.

"Yeah..."

Something was going on.

Maybe it was just the whole "her liking me" thing.

I couldn't be sure though.

I needed to talk to her.

Maybe break was the best option though when we didn't have as much on our minds.

The main thing on my mind was Frank.

I was worried that he wasn't in today.

School was always a massive drag when he wasn't here.

He didn't usually have a day off though.

I think that since he had started here, he'd only had about two days off.

The bell went for first lesson.

At least I could find out now if he was here or not.

We walked in silence again, Maisie and I.

I didn't really notice though until we reached our Music room.

My heart dropped massively when I saw that Frank wasn't there.

Maybe we had just beaten him today?

I somehow doubted it though.

This whole day didn't feel right as soon as I had woken up.

We took our seats and listened to Mrs Wells as she went on about semitones and dotted rhythms.

Well, Maisie listened.

I took out my phone and, under the table, messaged Frank.

He would have told me if he wasn't coming in today.

We usually told each other.

"Hey, are you ill? How come you're not in school? Xx"

School with Frank was no fun at all.

I guess, on the plus side, I could talk to Maisie and focus on our conversation.

Frank could be a bit of a... distraction sometimes.

A good distraction though.

I hoped he would be in for Friday so band practise could go on as normal.

We both enjoyed it and I knew he would do anything not to miss it.

About twenty minutes later, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I checked it carefully as to make sure Mrs Wells didn't notice.

It was from Frank.

"Sorry, I would've messaged you but I fell asleep. I'm taking a personal day. No biggie. I'll call you later xx"

A personal day?

So he wasn't ill then.

I understood what a personal day meant.

I used to take them a lot.

It wasn't a lazy thing, at least not in my experience.

I always took one when I couldn't face getting up and going to school.

I just needed a day to breathe.

Usually stress or stupid head stuff related.

I had been doing better lately though.

But why had Frank decided he needed one?

What was going on?


	49. A Talk

{Gerard's POV}

 

When the bell for break went, I suddenly felt a wave of nerves wash over me.

I was never the sort of person to confront awkward situations but I knew I couldn't avoid this topic.

This had to be dealt with.

I kind of wished that Frank was here for some moral support or advice.

He gave good advice.

I walked slowly over to our friends on the playground and thought through what I was going to say.

That was the problem though: I had no idea what I was going to say.

How do you even bring up this sort of thing?

I guess I would just have to think on my feet.

I had run out of time to plan anything.

Although, it wasn't like I hadn't tried to think of anything.

Nothing had come to mind though.

I felt incredibly awkward as I headed straight for Maisie and stopped in front of her.

She smiled at me.

I couldn't bring myself to smile back.

"Can I talk to you, Mai?" I asked.

She frowned a little but nodded.

I took her away from the others before facing her.

She looked both genuinely confused and interested in what I had to say.

"Okay, so," I began but then realised that I had no idea of what I was going to say.

I thought for a moment about how to start.

"What's going on?" She asked when I didn't say anything else.

I sighed and wracked my brain for anything that might be of help.

Looked like there was no way to ease into this conversation.

I just had to come out and say it.

"Is it true you like me?" I blurted before I could stop myself.

I watched as her features froze on her face for a second before they changed and she looked a lot more guarded than before.

"What do you mean...?" Her voice was quiet.

"Is it true you like me?" I repeated slowly, "As in, like me."

"You're my best friend."

I knew that already.

That wasn't what I meant.

"And you're mine. But... Do you?"

She didn't say anything.

Instead, she looked away awkwardly, a blush playing on her cheeks.

So... It was true then?

After a few painfully long moments, she asked, "Did Frank tell you?"

My head snapped up.

"What? Frank?"

Now, I was confused.

What did Frank have to do with this?

"Oh," Maisie realised she shouldn't have said that, "I uh... I thought-"

"Does Frank know?" I demanded, not quite believing it.

She didn't say anything but she did nod her head slowly.

"What?" I was so confused, "Why does he know?"

"I only told him yesterday," Maisie tried to justify herself, "He didn't know this whole time."

This was too much to focus on.

I had so many questions.

What was Frank's part in it all and why had she even told him in the first place?

Also, what did she mean by 'all this time'?

How long had this been going on for?

"I only told him because he realised something was wrong."

I felt bad then.

Maisie was my best friend and all I did was leave her to her moping, accepting that she wouldn't tell me what was going on.

That wasn't my fault though.

It wasn't like I hadn't tried to find out what was going on.

She just didn't let me know anything.

"Is Frank okay?" She pulled me out of my thoughts.

I looked at her.

"Um I think so. He said he was having a 'personal day'."

I scanned her next expression.

She looked thoughtful and curious.

Since when was she such good friends with Frank anyway?

I didn't think they talked that much.

Maisie seemed to read my mind then.

"I felt bad. That's why I told him."

"What?" I frowned.

"I felt bad," She repeated, looking down, "I was always so cold towards him. I couldn't help myself. I was just jealous... I felt bad so I told him."

I didn't say anything.

This was a lot to take in.

"In return, he-" She cut herself off.

"What?" I wanted to know what she was going to say.

She just shook her head.

This was frustrating!

"What, Maisie?" I demanded.

She looked at me and said quietly, "It's not for me to tell you. It's his secret."

The fuck?

"Secret?" I was so confused.

She nodded and looked away again.

What was going on?

Why was I always in the dark?

Since when did Frank have a secret?

This was the first I was hearing about this.

"I've liked you for a while, Gee..." Maisie veered off of Frank.

I bit my lip.

There was nothing I could do.

I wished there was something I could do to help.

This was obviously upsetting her.

It wasn't fair.

"I... I'm sorry, Mai," I sighed, "Maybe in another life, a life where I like girls, it might have worked out. But... I don't. I'm sorry."

She looked down sadly.

I needed to cheer her up.

This wasn't fair on her at all.

"I love you, Maisie, but-"

"But you love me as a friend, I know," She murmured.

I looked away awkwardly.

This conversation was going nowhere.

"Look," She waited until I looked at her before saying, "I'm hoping this will help me to stop liking you. Now that you know. Wait, how did you find out anyway?"

I smiled nervously, "Let's leave out the details."

I didn't want to get Taylor in trouble.

It wasn't her fault she had such a big mouth.

Maisie dropped it anyway, "Let's just move on and act like this never happened."

That seemed reasonable.

Also, I wanted things to go back to the way they were.

I wanted the old Maisie back.

She smiled at me, "It'll all be fine."

I nodded.

I hoped she was right.

The bell went for third lesson then.

I sighed a little before feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket.

It was a message from Frank:

"Hey, can I come over after school? I need to talk to you xx"

I frowned at the message.

He needed to talk to me?

About what exactly?

Did this have anything to do with his so-called secret?

Only one way to find out, I suppose.


	50. Confessions

{Gerard's POV}

 

I waited anxiously for Frank to show up.

He would be here any minute.

What did he have to talk to me about?

Was it something important?

A thought crossed my mind for a moment.

No.

He wouldn't.

He wouldn't break up with me.

Not after everything.

I told him I loved him and he said it back.

So he couldn't be breaking up with me.

I shook my head to get the thought out of my mind.

I was just being stupid now.

Stupid and dramatic.

"Gerard!" My mum called.

I was a little grateful for the interruption.

"Frank's here!"

I suddenly felt the strange sensation of deja vu.

There was a knock on my bedroom door.

I stood up as it opened and Frank appeared from behind it.

He smiled when he saw me and I couldn't help but grin back.

"Hey," He shut the door behind him.

"Hi..." I blushed slightly.

What was wrong with me?

Why did I always get so nervous and giggly around him still?

Maybe it was just a reminder of how gay I was.

Yeah, sounded right.

I was fine with that.

Although, I didn't exactly need a reminder.

I had Frank for that.

He moved in front of me and laced his fingers through mine.

My heart was already racing as he leant up and kissed me lightly on the lips.

He smiled and pulled away.

"How uh..." I was already lost for words, "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged and swayed our hands a little.

"Alright, I guess."

"Did the day off help?"

He suddenly grew tense and his hands stopped swaying.

I frowned as he avoided my eye contact.

What was going on?

"Uh yeah... Sure."

He was already uncomfortable so I thought I'd go the full mile.

"Why did you have the day off? What's going on?"

He dropped my hands abruptly.

I frowned at him.

Sighing, he raked a hand through his hair and went over to my bed.

I watched as he sat down and kept his gaze on the floor.

I wasn't too sure what to do.

I cautiously sat down next to him and waited.

What was this all about?

Had something happened?

He was fiddling with his hands so I placed one of mine over his.

He finally looked at me then and smiled a small smile.

It wasn't a Frank smile though.

Something was wrong.

"I have something to tell you," He said, "I've been putting it off but you have a right to know."

I was getting worried now.

Frank was an open book.

He never kept any secrets.

"What do you mean...?" I took my hand off of his.

He faced me a little more.

"Look, I wasn't going to tell you because it's in the past. It doesn't change anything now."

"So what made you change your mind?" I asked.

He seemed uneasy again.

"It came back. My past came back."

What did he mean?

"What?"

Sighing yet again, he took my hands in his and looked at me.

"I'm not meaning to be dramatic or anything, I swear," He smirked a little.

"Just tell me what's going on," I bit my lip.

I needed to know now.

His smile went as he said, "My ex called me."

Hang on, what?

I frowned.

What?

"At my old school, I went out with this guy for about five months before I left," He explained.

The concept of Frank having previous relationships before me had never really crossed my mind before.

I felt a little uneasy I have to say.

I didn't like the thought of him laughing with someone else, hugging someone else... Kissing someone else.

"I guess it went well," He shrugged, "That was until I uh..."

He looked awkward again.

Why wouldn't he just get to the point?

"What is it, Frank?"

After a moment of silence, he looked at me again.

"I told him I loved him, okay?"

I felt myself freeze.

Frank had loved someone else?

I never wanted that thought to cross my mind.

Why was he bringing this up now?

He had loved this guy...

What if he still did?

"Long story short, we broke up. He wasn't quite... There yet."

What did that mean?

I felt lost.

"There?" I questioned.

Frank looked like this was the last thing he wanted to talk about.

So why was he bringing it up?

"He didn't feel the same way," He grumbled, "He didn't like me as much as I liked him."

I didn't say anything.

I hadn't expected that.

Was Frank still bitter?

Was he still hung up on this guy?

"A couple of days ago, he called me. He... He said he missed me. You know, usual 'i want you back' shit."

I could feel my whole world collapsing.

Someone else wanted Frank.

Well, why wouldn't they?

Frank was amazing and attractive and basically perfect.

"What did you say?" My voice was barely audible.

I was surprised I still managed to speak to be honest.

I wanted to let go of Frank's hands but his grip was tight.

He kept his eyes on mine as he replied.

"I told him I was happy."

I wasn't sure how to respond.

How did he want me to respond?

"Gerard," He moved closer to me on the bed, "I love you. I once thought that I loved him but I don't think I ever did. I assumed I did. But when I met you, it felt different. I know this is love."

I knew we were only sixteen and that people would argue that we were too young to know what real love is but I knew.

I knew this was it.

"So..." I still didn't know what to say.

I felt better about all of this.

"So," He took over, stroking the back of my hands with his thumbs, "I told him to stick it. I have an amazing boyfriend who I love so fucking much."

I smiled and a wave of happiness swept over me.

I wasn't too sure if I was better off knowing all of this but it mattered to Frank so that meant it mattered to me.

"It isn't that much of a big deal but I wanted you to know. Secrets aren't part of a relationship," He smiled back.

I agreed with him there.

I was glad that he had told me now.

Better than in the future when it might have upset me.

"Thanks, Frank," I found my voice again, "For telling me."

He shrugged, "I felt guilty for some reason. It wasn't like I'd met up with him or anything. I just... Felt bad. It took me a while to get over him and... Look, he's no longer a part of my life. You are. You are my life."

This meant so much to me.

I moved into him more and rested my head against his shoulder.

He let go of my hands and wrapped his arms around me.

"I love you... So much. Don't forget that."

"I love you too," I said against his shoulder.

Keeping his arms around me, he looked down at me and smiled.

I looked up into his eyes.

"How did I even survive before I met you?" His voice was quiet.

"I was just thinking the same thing," I smiled.

My favourite moments with him were the cheesy ones.

They were the best and made me fall in love with him all over again.

He leant down and kissed me on the nose.

I giggled, "You're cute."

"I know you are."

"Stop!" I hid my face against his shoulder.

His arms around me tightened and he kissed my head.

"My Gerard," He rested his head against mine.


	51. Almost Over

{Frank's POV}

 

I looked up as Maisie sat down across the table.

Gerard was no where to be seen though.

Before I could question anything, Maisie said, "He's doing a job for our form tutor. He'll be here soon."

I nodded.

"Did you tell him?" She changed the subject as soon as it started.

I blinked, trying to organise my thoughts.

"I uh... Yeah, I did."

She smiled a little before saying, "How did he take it?"

I was tired of this subject now.

"It's really not big of a deal," I sighed, "It was fine."

Why wasn't the lesson starting yet?

I just wanted to forget all of this.

"Gerard found out..." Maisie's voice was quiet.

I looked at her again.

"What?"

"He found out about me... You know, liking him."

"Oh."

Was that all I could think of to say?

I cleared my throat a little.

"What did he say?"

Maisie shrugged a little.

"We've decided to just forget about it."

"I'm sorry, Maisie," I had no idea what to say, "How did he find out?"

"I don't know. He didn't say," Maisie looked uncomfortable with this conversation.

She looked how I felt.

Thank fuck Gerard turned up then.

I felt something on the back of my head.

Gerard came into sight.

I then realised that he had lightly messed with my hair on his way to his seat.

I smirked as he sat down across from me.

"Alright! We're starting late today," Mrs Wells finally spoke up, "I'm freaking out a little because your exams start in three weeks. Three weeks! How are you all feeling?"

Don't remind me.

I zoned out for whatever she had to say before she set us the task of finishing our coursework.

Exams soon.

That's scary shit.

I stood up and collected our coursework folders.

Handing Maisie and Gerard theirs, I asked, "You guys ready for the exams?"

Maisie looked at me like I was crazy.

"No way! Who is?"

Gerard smiled a little but he looked nervous.

I sat back down and opened my folder.

"Are you ready, Frank?"

I looked up to see them both watching me.

To be honest, I was.

The build up had lasted for so long that I just wanted them over and done with now.

They go on about them for the whole year and then they're over in just two weeks.

Plus, I was looking forward to the long summer afterwards.

And maybe prom.

I hadn't decided if I was looking forward to that yet.

"I dunno," I shrugged, "I just want them done with now."

Gerard nodded, "Me too. The pressure is getting too much."

At the mention of that, I felt worry start to appear about Gerard.

Was he stressed out by all of this?

I was surprised I hadn't taken this into consideration before.

I often worried what was going on in Gerard's head because he wouldn't tell me if anything was.

He was a suffering in silence type.

"You're not too stressed by it all, are you?" I asked him.

His eyes warmed at this and he smiled a little.

"I'm fine, Frank. I just want it to be over like you do."

I nodded but watched him carefully.

Love does a funny thing to you.

It makes you a thousand times more protective over the one you love.

I was always on alert when it came to Gerard.

Worrying wasn't exactly an attractive quality but I couldn't really help it.

Especially after all the shit he had been through.

"Hey," Gerard caught my attention again, "Band practise today?"

I grinned, forgetting about the worrying topic, "Of course! Best day of the week."

He smiled back in agreement.

Band practise was the only exciting thing about school.

Besides seeing Gerard that is.

I looked forward to those Friday afternoons after school when we could just hang out and have fun.

And making music at the same time was an added bonus.

Luckily, the rest of the day went by pretty fast so before I knew it, we were sitting in the music room after school.

Mikey and Ray were playing something together and Bob was sat at the drums, on his phone.

They were all already there when Gerard and I had shown up.

And now here we were.

Gerard was writing again.

He spent most rehearsals writing lyrics.

I had my guitar on but I wasn't playing anything.

I was thinking.

Rare for me, I know.

I was thinking that in a few weeks, this would all be over.

All of us, except for Mikey, would be taking our exams and then leaving.

No more band practise.

No more My Chemical Romance.

Not if I could help it.

"Hey, guys?" I called their attention.

They all immediately looked up from what they were doing.

"I've just been thinking-"

"Well, that's dangerous. Everyone, careful. Frank's thinking again," Mikey smirked.

I flipped him off before continuing.

"In a few weeks, we're taking our exams and then leaving."

"Have you only just realised this, Frank?" Ray asked, "We get reminded every day by teachers and parents."

"I know, I know," I took my guitar off and placed her on the table, "But I just realised that it means that we can't come here after school on Fridays anymore."

They were all quiet.

Apparently none of them had really thought about it either.

"Well, I still can," Mikey said.

"It would be pretty lonely all by yourself," Bob said from the corner.

Mikey didn't say anything else.

"So, what do you suggest, Frank?" Gerard asked.

I looked at him and smiled a little.

"I don't want that to be the end of us; of the band."

"Who said it had to end?" Mikey found his voice again, "We can find a new place to practise."

"That's what I was thinking," I nodded, "But what about the drums? We need a place that has drums."

We all looked at Bob who was looking down at his phone again.

He seemed to sense our stares because he looked up.

It was silent before he said, "Oh, yeah, I have a drum kit in my garage."

"And you didn't think to mention this before?" Mikey raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't seem relevant until now," Bob shrugged.

That was enough for me though.

"Is your garage big enough to fit four other people in?" I asked.

Bob thought for a second before replying, "Yeah, probably."

"So," Gerard chimed in, "Would we be able to practise there?"

We all looked at Bob again.

He was on his phone again.

When he realised we were waiting for an answer, he looked up.

"What? Yeah, sure."

I grinned.

Rad!

"Awesome," Ray smiled as well, "When should we start playing there?"

I looked at Gerard.

Gerard was secretly the leader of all of this.

He was the most sensible and knew what was happening.

"Well," He said thoughtfully, "Exams start in four weeks now. When they start, we won't be in every day. So we probably won't be able to practise at all during exams. They last three weeks. After that, we're done here."

"Finally," Bob muttered.

"I'd say, the sooner the better really. Maybe we stay here for another three weeks and then have a break during exams. After that, we'll transition to Bob's garage."

"Sounds good," Ray agreed.

Mikey looked unsure.

Gerard saw this too.

"What's wrong, Mikes?"

Rather hesitant, Mikey replied, "Schools gonna suck without you guys."

I couldn't help but smile at that.

Gerard stood up.

"You'll still see me at home."

"Yeah, I know. I meant the others anyway. I wouldn't miss you."

Wow, brotherly love.

I knew he had meant Gerard too though.

Gerard smirked at that.

"Thanks, Mikes."

He somehow managed to catch Mikey off guard then and hugged him.

"Hey!" Mikey tried to free himself.

"Aw, I wanna hug too!" I threw my arms over both of them.

"Guys!" Mikey was still in the middle.

Ray had taken off his guitar and had somehow managed to grab Bob because next, Bob was thrown into the hug along with Ray.

"Group hug!" I grinned.

"Ew no!" Mikey couldn't move.

Gerard looked at me and smiled.

I smiled back.

"I can't breathe!" Mikey moaned.

"How did you say that then?" Ray laughed.

I laughed with him and soon we were all laughing for no reason at all.

God, these losers meant a lot to me.


	52. Prom Plans

{Gerard's POV}

 

"So?"

"So...?" I repeated.

She rolled her eyes.

"So, has he asked you yet?"

I was so confused.

"What?"

"Oh my god, Gerard!" She suddenly burst, "Don't tell me he hasn't asked you yet!"

I still had no idea what was going on.

"Asked me what? Who? When Where? What?"

Taylor looked genuinely shocked and exchanged a look with Carrie.

"Frank!" Taylor clarified, "Has Frank asked you to the prom yet?"

Oh.

It made sense now.

"No," I frowned, "Is he going to?"

I had assumed we were all going as a group or something.

That had always been the plan.

But then again, that was before Frank had shown up.

I never thought I'd actually have a possible date for prom.

Although, surely there was no 'possible' about it.

Frank was my boyfriend so of course we were going together.

Did he need to ask me first?

And anyway, why did he have to ask me?

"Wait," I spoke up before Taylor could start up again, "Why are you assuming that he is going to be the one to ask?"

"I wasn't assuming anything," Taylor was quiet for once.

"Yeah you were," I continued, "The guy asks the girl. So are you saying I'm the girl of the relationship?"

"Of course not, Gee."

This had annoyed me now.

"There's no such thing as the 'girl' or the 'guy' of the relationship. There is no girl in mine and Frank's relationship. If you hadn't noticed, we're gay. I'd be pretty surprised if one of us was a girl."

"I would be too," Frank suddenly appeared next to me, "Why are you ranting?"

I sighed and looked down.

"It's nothing."

I didn't look up to see his reaction.

I already knew he didn't believe me.

Although, he didn't say anything else.

"Look," Taylor caught my attention, "I'm sorry, Gee. I didn't mean to upset you..."

This was the quietest Taylor had been in a long time.

I looked up and she actually looked both sorry and almost ashamed for once.

"It's fine," I muttered.

Frank sensed this was a sensitive topic so changed the subject.

"So... Uh... Exams start in two weeks."

Exam talk seemed to be the only talk anymore.

It kinda sucked, I have to say.

It was all anyone could talk about and I was growing tired of it.

Taylor noticed my disinterest and gestured for me to have a talk with her.

Out of interest, I followed her a little way off from the others even though she had offended me only moments before.

Frank and Carrie frowned at us before continuing talk about the Maths exam.

"I'm so sorry," She smiled sadly, "I honestly didn't mean anything by it."

"It's fine," I shrugged.

It wasn't but I didn't care anymore to argue.

"Are you planning on asking Frank to prom then?" She asked.

I thought for a moment.

I'd never really made any plans yet.

I was focussing on these shitty exams and getting them out of the way first.

Most people seemed to be doing the same.

Although, a lot of girls had already bought their dresses.

"I don't know," I eventually replied, "Do you think I should?"

She started nodding like a bobble-head, "Yes! He's your boyfriend so you're going together anyway but he would probably find it really sweet if you asked him."

Maybe she was right.

"You think so?"

"Yeah," She seemed adamant.

If asking Frank to prom was going to give me boyfriend points, then I was definitely going to comply.

Frank had been a lot more... What was the word... Passionate lately.

We didn't go out at the weekends anymore.

Instead, we stayed in my room, watching movies.

Mostly making out though.

I was all for this, of course, but it was always awkward if one of us caught the other getting a little too excited downstairs.

If Frank was already willing to have full-on make out sessions whenever one of us was in the mood, what would he be like if I asked him to prom?

But maybe Frank wasn't like that.

Maybe he didn't care about prom.

Or what if he didn't even plan on going?

Only one way to find out, I suppose.

"I'll ask him tonight," I decided.

"Make it romantic!" Taylor nodded me.

"Right..." I nodded, wondering how the hell I would manage that.

We went back over to Frank and Carrie to find Dan, Michelle and Maisie had joined them.

The easy chatter around me continued and I pulled out my phone, sending a text to Frank before putting it away again.

"Come over to mine tonight? Xxx"

I watched across the circle as Frank felt his phone vibrate.

He took it out, read it and smirked, looking up at me and winked.

I blushed a little and watched as he replied and put his phone away.

A moment later, I felt my phone vibrate and I read the message that flashed up on the screen.

"Can't wait xxxx"

I grinned and put my phone away.

Looking up at Frank, I saw him watching me.

He gestured with his head for me to go over to him.

No one else really seemed to notice as I slipped out of the circle and went over to Frank who had also escaped our friends.

He held out his hand as soon as I was next to him.

I took it, smiling.

He grinned at me.

"You can talk to me in person, you know?"

I shrugged, "I'm lazy."

He scoffed a little at that but didn't say anything.

I was thinking.

How was I supposed to asking him romantically?

I had never done this before.

Frank was always the take-charge one in our relationship.

In fact, he was the one to initiate the relationship.

He had kissed me first.

He asked me to be his boyfriend.

Maybe I was kidding myself with asking him.

Wait- Was Taylor right?

Was I the girl of the relationship?

(No offence to any females).

I couldn't let Taylor be right so I'd just have to suck it up and ask.

Screw romance.

I had no idea how to do that shit.

That was when an idea popped into my head then.

Okay, maybe I could do romance.

I'd need help though.

Maybe I could ask the guys.

Okay, this was definitely happening now.

"Hey, Frank," I looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"Cancel tonight."

He frowned, "Why?"

"Change of plan. I need you to come over tomorrow instead."

He gave me a 'what-are-you-up-to' look but I wasn't giving anything away.

 

*

 

"Okay, guys, thanks for coming over in such short notice."

Mikey frowned, "What's going on, Gee?"

He was sat on the sofa along with Ray and Bob.

They all looked genuinely interested in what I had to say.

"Why isn't Frank here?" Ray asked, "I thought this was a band thing?"

I felt incredibly awkward.

"Wait," Mikey suddenly grew cautious, "You guys haven't broken up have you?"

My eyes widened, "What? No! Of course not!"

He looked somewhat relieved, "Okay, good."

"Good?"

He shrugged, "I hate to admit it but you guys make a good couple."

Hearing that made me smile widely.

"Really, Mikes?"

Ray backed Mikey up, "Yeah, it's true. You guys are awesome together."

Bob nodded in agreement.

I felt so much better after hearing that.

"Well, I'm glad you guys think that because I need your help."

"Help?" Mikey asked.

I nodded, "It's come to my attention that it's prom soon."

"You've only just realised?" Ray smirked.

"No, no," I clarified, "I thought I was going with friends but that was before I started going out with Frank."

I saw Mikey click as he realised what I was saying.

"I was wondering..." I went awkward again, "If you guys could help me plan out how to ask him? And maybe help me out for when I actually do it?"

It was silent for a moment.

Ray was the first to speak, "Of course, Gee."

Bob just nodded which was the closest we'd get to an answer from him.

I looked at Mikey.

"Fine," He smiled a little, in spite of himself, "But I'm not wearing a suit."

I grinned.

 

*

 

Two hours later, we were still brainstorming ideas.

"Just buy him some fucking flowers," Mikey whined.

I could tell he was growing bored of this.

"But wouldn't that be too much?" Ray frowned, "We don't want to overdo it."

"Oh I don't know!" Mikey sighed, "It's not like any of us have any experience when it comes to this sort of thing."

We heard the front door shut.

"Hello?" My mum called from the hallway.

"Hey, mum," I called before turning back to Mikey, "I don't think flowers would be a good idea."

Bob looked up from the notepad.

"So no flowers?" He asked.

"I don't think so," I replied.

He scribbled something out.

"Wait," Ray suddenly perked up, "We could get flowers but not make them cheesy."

"How?"

"What are you guys up to?" My mum was in the room.

I hadn't even seen her enter.

"Just planning prom, mum," I didn't look at her.

None of us did.

We were all too enthralled with this.

Ray seemed to be looking up flowers on his phone while Bob wrote down "flowers minus the cheese".

Mikey was rubbing his eyes, probably wishing this was over by now.

"Prom?" My mum sounded confused, "Shouldn't you have sorted this out weeks ago?"

"Yeah but that was before I realised I have to ask him," I didn't look up from my own notepad that had little sketches of flowers and tea lights on.

"Ask who?"

I felt my whole body tense up as I realised what I'd just said.

The others realised too and we all looked up at the same time.

Mikey sent me a 'you-can't-recover-from-that' look.

He was right.

I looked at mum.

She looked both confused and maybe a little...knowing?

"Uh..." I forgot how to speak.

I sensed Mikey stand up.

"Come on, guys, we'll go upstairs. Gee has something to tell mum."

That little shit.

I glared at him as he led the others to the stairs and disappeared from sight.

It went silent.

Mum slowly sat down on the sofa and looked at me, waiting.

I sighed.

"This isn't how I planned on telling you," My voice was small.

She didn't say anything.

How had I forgotten to tell my mum about Frank?

It wasn't like it wasn't obvious.

He was round every weekend and he was at my side at the hospital practically every day.

"I'm sorry... I forgot to tell you mum. I've just been so caught up with exams and art and-"

"It's okay, Gerard," She smiled, "I've been patient."

Patient?

"Wait, what?" I frowned.

She laughed lightly.

"I'm not stupid."

I opened my mouth and closed it again, not sure of what to say.

"Frank is a lovely boy," Mum continued, a grin on her face, "You two must like each other a lot."

"I uh..." My voice was barely audible, "How?"

She laughed again.

"Oh, Gerard, come on now. I'm your mother. Give me some credit."

I smiled a little at that.

"How long have you known?"

She thought for a second before saying, "A while."

Wow.

Okay.

I hadn't expected that.

"You'll have to introduce him to be again properly," She grinned.

"Uh yeah, okay," I nodded.

"Now," She changed the subject, "What do you need help with? Asking him?"

I nodded slightly.

"Call the others down. I'm sure I can be of some help."

I smiled, "Thanks, mum."


	53. Tea Lights

{Frank's POV}

 

I checked the time on my phone.

Two minutes past nine.

I was on time.

Why this time anyway?

It was starting to go dark now.

Only one way to find out I suppose.

I knocked on the Way's front door and waited.

A moment later, it opened to reveal Mikey wearing a black suit.

The fuck?

"Mikey?" I frowned.

He looked less than amused.

I felt underdressed in my school shirt and black jeans.

"What's going on?"

"Welcome, Frank," He voice was monotone, "Come with me."

He stood next to me on the path and shut the front door.

I followed him silently as he led me to the back garden.

Was that... Music?

Definitely.

It got louder as we approached the back garden.

I knew it was The Misfits from here.

Why were they playing The Misfits in their back garden at nine o'clock at night?

I was definitely intrigued now.

We turned the corner to see like, hundreds of tea lights all over the place.

What the fuck-

"Can I go now?" Mikey asked, stopping.

"Fine," Someone said.

I frowned.

Mikey disappeared back the way we had come.

I looked around the garden.

Tea lights flickered.

I noticed a table in the middle of the garden with a bunch of flowers on it.

"Frank."

Gerard was stood behind the table looking incredibly nervous.

"Hey," I slowly walked up to the table.

The flowers were roses and...

Were they painted black?

I stopped in front of the table.

"What's going on?" I picked up one of the roses.

They were definitely black.

Had Gerard painted them?

I looked back up at him.

Unlike Mikey, he was just wearing his black jeans and a faded Iron Maiden t-shirt.

"I know this is horrifically cheesy," He smirked, "But I couldn't just come out and ask you randomly."

I frowned.

What was he talking about?"

He picked up a small remote and pressed a button on it.

The music went quieter.

He walked around the table and stopped next to me.

I watched as he took the rose out of my hand and placed it on the table.

Taking both my hands in his, he looked me in the eyes and smiled.

"Frank," He began, "I'm not one for big gestures as you know but... You're special so you deserve one."

I couldn't help but smile at that.

He was so cute.

I could sense how nervous he was so I squeezed his hands comfortingly.

This seemed to ease him a bit because he smiled back at me and said, "I know neither of us are exactly mainstream but I don't see why we can't do this."

I still had no idea what he was getting at so I waited for what he said next.

"Frank, will you go to prom with me?"

Ah.

It all made sense now.

I started grinning widely.

"Of course I will, you twat."

He grinned and pulled me into him for a kiss.

I kissed him back before pulling away.

"So... You stole the first I love you and you asked me to prom first. You're a dangerous one, Way."

He giggled at that and he looked so adorable, I couldn't help but kiss him again.

We were interrupted, however, by more music.

I frowned and pulled away.

This was live music.

Gerard smiled knowingly and let go of one of my hands.

"Come on," He led me back towards the front garden.

We didn't go towards the house though.

He led me to the garage which I had passed on the way to the back garden.

Although, the big door was open now and lights were on inside.

I grinned as soon as I saw them.

Bob, Ray and Mikey were in there, jamming out.

When had they gotten Bob's drum kit in there?

We stopped next to the door and watched them.

I placed a hand in my pocket and let go of Gerard's hand.

Instead, I placed it around his waist.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him.

The guys were playing I'm Not Okay.

It sounded a little weird without my guitar part and Gerard singing but it was still awesome.

I grinned up at Gerard.

"I love you."

He smiled down at me.

"I love you, too."

When the song had finished, he guys looked over to us and smiled.

"Did he say yes?" Ray asked.

Gerard nodded, grinning away.

"Awesome!" Ray high-fived him.

Mikey frowned.

"What the fuck, Gee? How come I'm the only one wearing a suit?"

I looked at the other two.

Sure enough, their clothes were casual, very casual, next to Mikey.

Gerard smirked slightly.

"You said you didn't want to wear a suit."

"So you made me wear one anyway?" Mikey narrowed his eyes at him.

"Mmhmm," Gerard laughed.

Mikey glared at him.

"I hate you."

The rest of us started laughing then.

I couldn't help it then.

I turned to Gerard and pulled his face down to meet his.

He made a surprised noise before kissing me back.

"No! Stop it!" Mikey whinged.

I would never get tired of this.

"Leave them, Mikey," We heard Ray, "They're in love."

"Ew."

I grinned and pulled away, throwing myself into Gerard's arms.

There was definitely some positives to being shorter than him.

Of course I was a bit skeptical when he made it known that he was now taller than me but whatever.

I could make it work.

He hugged me back tightly, resting his head against mine.


	54. Shopping Trip

{Gerard's POV}

 

Four weeks later, exams were finally over.

I was so happy they were.

A huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders when I left the exam hall for the last time.

It was probably the same for everyone else.

When the fog had lifted, I remembered that the next big thing was prom in three weeks.

I didn't even have a suit yet.

Did it have to match with Frank's since we were going together?

I had no idea.

So I decided to ask the only person I knew had a slight idea.

"Mum?" I peered around the living room doorway.

"Yes, Darling?"

I felt a little nervous about this subject.

I walked into the room a bit more.

"I need help."

"What with?" She looked up from a magazine she had been reading.

Sitting down next to her on the sofa, I sighed.

"I'm not sure what to do for prom."

A smile overtook her face.

"Have you talked to Frank?"

"Kind of," I bit my lip, "But he's as clueless as I am."

Mum seemed to get excited then.

"Ooh can I help?"

I grinned, "That's the reason I'm here."

Mums came in handy sometimes.

Ten minutes later, mum decided that we would go out of town to get a suit and that Frank and his mum would join us.

I was a bit skeptical because I had never met Frank's mum and Frank never mentioned telling her about us.

But when I asked him about the plan he seemed for it and said he'd ask his mum.

So a week later, I was waiting outside the train station with my mum for Frank and his mum.

Nervous was an understatement.

Did this count as meeting the in-laws?

"What kind of suit were you thinking?" Mum pulled me out of my nervous thoughts.

"What? Oh um a black one."

"Black? That's a bit morbid for prom."

I shrugged, "It's the only decent colour there is."

I spotted Frank then.

He was walking towards us, his hands in his pockets and a lopsided grin on his face, and his mum was next to him.

She looked friendly enough.

She was about the same size as Frank which made him even cuter.

She had short, brown hair and a skirt-suit on.

She actually looked really formal next to Frank in his ripped jeans and Misfits t-shirt.

Mum had stopped talking so she must have seen them as well.

When they were only a few feet away from us, I stepped forward to greet Frank.

He grinned and pulled me into a hug.

I kissed him on his head.

Going into a full-on kiss probably wasn't a good idea in front of our mums.

So I settled for a forehead kiss instead.

Frank pulled away and instantly laced his fingers through mine, turning to his mum.

"Gee, this is my mum, Linda. Mum, this is my boyfriend, Gerard."

I still got chills whenever he called me that.

I knew I was his boyfriend but it still excited me.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," I stammered a little.

Frank's mum smiled at me.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Gerard. Frankie's told me a lot about you."

"He has?" I looked at him.

He rolled his eyes.

"Not at all," He smirked, "I mean, it's not like I love you or anything."

I blushed instantly.

My mum made a weird noise.

I looked at her.

She had her hand over her mouth, trying not to cry or something.

"Mum?" I frowned.

She shook her head, "I'm sorry. Oh um... I'm Donna."

She held out a hand.

Linda smiled and said, "I think we can do better than that. We are practically related after all."

She leant in and kissed my mum on the cheek.

Well, this seemed to be going well so far.

Frank grinned.

"Shouldn't we get going then? The train'll be here soon."

"Yeah," I agreed.

We didn't miss the train thankfully and soon we were on our way to Birmingham just because it was the next big city.

I had never really been a fan of shopping and neither was Frank, I found out.

But our mums definitely were.

They dragged us into every shop, made us try on a ton of suits.

Half of them weren't even black.

I tried them on just to keep my mum happy.

She didn't have a daughter to do this sort of thing with.

God help Mikey next year.

"Okay, I like this one," Frank grinned at his reflection.

Hit was a full black ensemble.

He had a jacket, shirt, trousers, a waistcoat and tie.

All black.

"Wouldn't you prefer a white shirt?" Linda asked.

"Nope," Frank shook his head, "I like this."

His mum rolled her eyes a little but agreed to buy it.

I honestly couldn't keep my eyes off of him.

I found myself wishing he would wear a suit every day.

School uniform didn't count.

How was I supposed to keep my hands to myself during prom?

Frank noticed me gawking and smirked.

While our mums were looking at shoes in the corner, Frank turned to me.

"Like what you see?" He grinned, turning in a full circle so I could see the whole of his outfit.

I couldn't think of anything to say so I just nodded.

Honestly, he looked really nice and all I wanted to do was grab him and kiss him.

"Gerard?" My mum pulled me out of my fantasies.

I looked at her, "Hm? Yeah?"

"You said you wanted black as well, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah but I don't want a waistcoat and I want a red tie."

"Red?" She frowned.

"Blood red," I clarified.

Frank raised an eyebrow but I wasn't giving anything away.

"There are some nice jackets over here," My mum led me to them.

Another two hours, a lunch break and four shops later, I had my suit.

"What about shoes?" Linda suddenly gasped, "We haven't got shoes for either of you yet."

Frank shook his head, "I'm wearing my black Converse, mum."

"Yeah, I am as well," I agreed.

That was the one thing we were sharing.

We both had just plain black Converse and we decided that we would rather wear those than stupid fancy shoes that are hard to walk in.

Mum looked doubtful.

"Are you both sure?"

I nodded, "We talked about it."

"Well... Okay, then. Whatever makes you happy," She smiled.

We were lucky that our mums cared more about what we wanted than what they wanted.

They weren't pushy and since neither of us liked shopping that much, we were pretty thankful about that.

The last shop we went in was an alternative shop because both Frank and I actually wanted to go in there.

It was pretty cool and I wanted to buy every article of clothing in there.

When Frank was distracted by some skeleton gloves, I pulled my mum aside and told her my plan.

She seemed unsure at first but gave in and bought me the things I needed without Frank seeing.

We caught the late afternoon train back home and all in all, it was a pretty successful day.

We managed to get everything we wanted in just one trip so we were all pretty pleased.

Sadly, Frank had to go home more or less straight away.

He promised to come over the next day though.

I was pretty happy with the results of the shop and I found out that I was actually looking forward to prom now.

That surprised me a little because I didn't think I was a party person.

Maybe a party was a good idea to end our school year after those stupid exams.

I was trying to forget about those though.

Everything was looking good.

I felt like I was growing up.


	55. Going Out with A Bang

{Gerard's POV}

 

I felt a little nervous.

Mum was ecstatic and wasn't doing very well at hiding it.

Frank was on his way to pick me up.

I knew I should be the one to pick him up since I'm the one who asked him to prom, but he insisted.

He said he had a surprise.

I hadn't asked too much about it because I knew he wouldn't tell me.

So here I was, waiting to go to prom.

It started in forty minutes.

Frank was getting here earlier though so we could have photos and shit.

Both my mum and his mum were very particular about that.

I couldn't stop looking in the mirror.

I have to say, I looked good.

The red tie went well with the otherwise black attire.

And I had a surprise too.

Frank hadn't seen me for a few days due to various reasons so that meant he hadn't seen my most recent hair colour.

It took a while to get the black out of course.

We had to bleach it until it went this dirty yellow colour.

We, I say we but I mean my mum, then put the dye on and washed it out and here it was two days later.

It was so weird to see me without black hair.

I kept forgetting until I passed a mirror or something.

My hair was now bright red to go with my tie.

See, I coordinate.

Frank knew none of this and I was nervous about his reaction.

I had styled it so my bangs were out of my eyes and combed back messily on my head.

I thought it looked good and my mum even said it looked nice.

I had also, of course, put on eyeliner and it seemed to pull the outfit together.

Frank was the missing piece of the puzzle.

I was waiting downstairs for once on the edge of the sofa.

Mikey was sat on the chair, typing on his phone.

"You excited?" He asked, not looking up from his phone.

"I guess," I admitted.

I was more excited about spending a night with Frank dressed in a suit than anything else.

Mikey looked at me from behind his phone.

"How are you getting there?"

That was the part I wasn't sure about.

"I have no idea. Frank's sorted that out."

Mikey raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else.

"I think he's here!" My mum bustled into the room.

She had been checking the windows every five minutes.

You'd think that she was the one going.

It was pretty sweet how excited she was.

I jumped up immediately.

"Okay," I smoothed down my suit jacket, "How do I look?"

They both looked at me.

"You look lovely, Darling," Mum smiled and kissed me on the forehead.

"I suppose you scrub up pretty well," Mikey added.

Coming from him, that was a big compliment.

I smiled at him.

"Thanks, Mikes."

The doorbell rang then.

I instantly felt nervous.

It was as if I had finally realised that all of this was real.

My mum's smile grew, if that was possible, and she went to open the front door.

I bit my lip and waited as my mum greeted Frank and told him how nice he looked.

I knew he would look nice.

He always looked nice.

Especially in a suit, I had recently found out.

I heard Linda's voice as well.

She was becoming fast friends with my mum.

While they talked, Frank appeared in the living room doorway.

He leant against it and crossed his arms, looking like an add from a suit magazine.

He was such an accidental model.

Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if he wasn't doing it by accident

He looked better than I thought he would.

Which wasn't surprising either.

His hair was freshly cut and styled as normal but it somehow looked nicer.

It also looked like he had taken a page out of my book on the whole makeup front.

His nails were painted black like mine always were and he had subtle back rims around his eyes.

He didn't have as much eyeliner on as me but fuck, did he look good.

I found myself staring a bit and I couldn't help it.

"Damn," He smirked, "Looking pretty hot, Way."

I blushed a little in response.

"So are you."

"I'm gonna go get a soda," Mikey practically ran into the kitchen.

I smirked at him.

Frank soon drew my attention back though.

He slowly moved from the doorway to stand in front of me.

Biting his lip, he looked up at my hair and then back to my face.

"Shit, that suits you," He breathed, "You have no idea how much I want to go down on you right now."

My cheeks turned the same colour as my hair.

He laughed a little.

Before our conversation could continue, the mum's came into the room.

"Okay," My mum was saying, "We have twenty minutes to take photos. Do you boys want to take them outside?"

"Sure thing," Frank didn't take his eyes off of me.

He began to fiddle with his lip ring between his teeth.

He had recently gotten it done as a present from his mum for doing his exams with no fuss.

I really liked it on him.

"Come on then," Linda went outside again.

"Mikey! Bring the camera!" My mum called before following her out.

Frank smiled and laced his fingers through mine.

He turned to go but then stopped.

"Oh hey," He looked at me again, "I forgot to do something."

Before I could say anything, he leant in and pressed his lips against mine.

I smiled against the kiss and soon, we both pulled away.

"Come on then," He grinned.

I giggled a little and let him lead me outside.

Mikey was behind us, grumbling under his breath.

The next twenty or so minutes consisted of photos after photos of me and Frank and me and my mum and Frank and his mum and all of us together.

"Okay, last few," My mum smiled, "Mikey and Gerard."

"Wait, what?" Mikey looked up from his phone.

"Come on," Mum pleaded, "I want a nice brother photo to put on the fireplace."

Mikey sighed loudly before giving in.

He stood next to me in front of the tree in our garden.

"Put your arm around Gerard," Mum instructed, "Act like you love each other."

Mikey smirked and did as she asked.

There was no point in arguing.

Mum loved these types of photos.

It used to be that I put my arm around Mikey but now that he was taller than me, it was the other way around.

We smiled for the camera and mum took three or four photos.

When it was over, Frank was at my side again.

Mikey walked off, taking his phone out again.

I looked down at Frank.

He grinned.

"You ready to go?" He asked.

I nodded and leant down, kissing him lightly.

We heard a snap and pulled away to look over to our mums.

They were "aww-ing" and it looked like they had captured our kiss on camera.

"Mu-um!" Frank whined.

He couldn't help but laugh at his tone of voice.

He glared at me.

"Shut up!"

I couldn't stop though.

The laughter wouldn't stop.

"Ger-ard!" He used the same tone of voice, grinning.

I tried to cover my laugh with my hand.

"Oh my God!" He rolled his eyes dramatically.

He surprised me then by jumping on my back.

That just made me laugh even more.

His arms were around my shoulders.

I could vaguely hear more snaps from the cameras.

This was probably amazing photos for our mums.

Frank had meanwhile wrapped his legs around my waist.

"Get off!" I gasped between laughter.

"No way!" He pressed the side of his face against my back.

He was like a koala that wouldn't get the fuck off.

Not that I minded.

He wasn't exactly heavy.

I turned my head to look at him.

He stuck he tongue out at me.

"I'm framing this one," Linda laughed.

Frank rolled his eyes at his mum before quickly kissing me on the cheek and jumping off.

"Let's go!" He skipped down the path.

I laughed after him and followed.

However, when I saw what our transport was, I stopped.

It was a black convertible.

I wasn't sure what kind of car it was but it looked expensive.

"Holy shit," My eyes widened, "Where did you get this from?"

He looked back at me and grinned.

"You like?"

"Very much," I nodded and went over to him and the car.

He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Where did you get this from?" I marvelled at the car.

"It's my step-dad's," Frank nodded towards the guy in the driver's seat, on his phone.

I only noticed him then.

He was wearing black sun glasses and what looked like a suit.

"Rob's our valet for the evening."

At being mentioned, 'Rob' looked over to us and nodded.

I grinned, "Okay. Awesome."

The mums were back, leading Mikey behind them.

"Let's have some photos with the car then."

About a million more photos later, we were sat in the back of the car.

Linda gave Rob the driving instructions to drive slowly so they could get there first.

We waited for my mum, Linda and Mikey to leave in my mum's car before Rob started the engine.

A minute later, we were driving down the road.

"Don't go too fast," I bit my lip, "I don't want to mess my hair up."

Frank started giggling so I hit him playfully.

Rob just grinned at us in the mirror and shook his head.

Still, he slowed down a little.

By the time we made it to the school's driveway, we were met with a line of different cars waiting to get in.

It was interesting to see how other people had travelled here.

As we were waiting, Frank nudged me and sat on the back of the seat so he was in full view of everyone.

I shakily did the same.

I think I was feeling more of a mix of excitement than nerves.

I was still pretty nervous though.

Eventually, we made our way slowly down the driveway until it was nearly our time to stop.

Behind tape, there were crowds of people watching and taking pictures.

It was mad.

And I was scared.

I had never been good with crowds.

"This is awesome," Frank shouted over the music, "I feel like a rockstar or some shit."

I grinned, "Celebrity's for the night."

"You've got that right," Frank agreed.

His hand reached for mine on the top of the seat and he pulled me closer into him.

I let go of his hand and put my arm around him instead.

"Only gay couple in the school!" Frank was beaming and fucking waving to people.

I started laughing at him.

He was loving the attention whereas I was slightly anxious about it all.

I was okay though.

Rob stopped the car when we reached the entrance to the school.

Frank jumped back into the car and out onto the ground in two moves before I had time to blink.

He then opened the door and grinned at me.

I blushed and got out.

I was aware that a lot of people were taking our pictures.

I still wasn't sure if I liked it or not though.

Frank high fived his step-dad before shutting the door.

He then wrapped his arm around my waist and I did the same to his shoulders.

I was lucky to have Frank.

He could tell I didn't like this very much and he was looking after me.

He took me round to the front of the car and we stopped so people could take our photos.

I felt so embarrassed, I hid my face against Frank's neck.

He held me tighter and whispered, "It'll be over soon."

That calmed me slightly; knowing he was there.

"Come on."

He led me to the front of the school.

I was still trying not to look.

I did spot our mums grinning and taking photos and Mikey smiling slightly, his phone out still.

"Almost there, Gee," Frank whispered into my hair, leading me slowly and carefully to the front doors.

I felt so awkward and embarrassed.

It was only when Frank said, "We're here. We made it." That I finally looked up again.

We were in the front entrance to the school.

There was music and lights blaring from the school hall and people dotted about the entrance, hugging and talking.

A girl with a tray offered us a drink each.

We both declined.

I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding and relaxed a little.

Frank was smiling at me.

"I'm proud of you," He pressed his nose to mine.

I smiled a little and looked down.

"Frank! Gerard!" Taylor called over to us, "Come on! Let's go in!"

 

*

 

The night was full of crappy music, everyone wanting photos with us and sweets.

Reminded me of primary school discos.

Although, here there was a photo booth that you could take photos with friends in.

The photos were printed there and then too.

I was pulled in there more times than I could count.

And of course Frank and I got a four pack of photos.

I really liked those photos.

One photo was of us pulling stupid faces, in another Frank had jumped on my back again, in another he kissed me on the cheek and in the last, I turned and kissed him properly.

Super cheesy but amazing.

Frank placed it carefully in his inside suit pocket and said he would photocopy it so we could both have a copy.

There was also an ice cream truck with free ice cream.

I had one and Frank had two.

I wasn't sure if sugar was a good idea for him though since he was already bouncing off the walls.

He was like that normally though.

It was at eleven when we were all outside waiting for fireworks when I finally felt fully relaxed.

Frank had his arm around my waist again and I was cuddling him back, my head resting on his shoulder.

He had made it known that he didn't want to stand by the others so we were stood away from them on our own.

He had said that he wanted it to be just me and him and I wasn't about to object.

It wasn't a cold evening so it was quite nice just standing here, staring up at the stars.

Frank rested his head against mine and sighed contently.

"Did I mention," His voice was quiet, "That you look... Incredibly hot tonight."

I giggled in response and said, "You might have mentioned it a few times."

"Well, it's true."

I cuddled him tighter.

"You're hotter."

I heard him snort in disagreement.

"It's true," I continued before he could say anything.

"Sure," I could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything else because the fireworks started.

A smile spread across my face as Frank made "ooh" and "ahh" noises at them in funny voices, mocking everyone else.

I started laughing and soon, Frank was laughing as well.

The fireworks continued for fifteen or so minutes and we stayed wrapped in each other's arms.

As they were coming to a close, Frank turned slightly so he was looking down at me.

I looked up into his eyes and smiled.

"I love you," He smiled back.

"I love you too."

He kissed me on the head before looking back up at the sky.

I looked up as well.

The lights were shining in the sky before they disappeared into the darkness.

It was a perfect way to end the school year.

I had Frank and that was all I needed.

I finally felt happy with my life and how it was going.

Frank rested his head against mine again.

We both knew that we were stuck with each other and neither of us minded at all.


End file.
